"It's the oldest trick in the book, but we're short on tricks at the moment."
[xxxxx]
Chapter 10: Old Tricks
Days passed and the threat of an attack by either the Superiors or the Brotherhood had moved to the back of everyone's minds. It was dinnertime now and everything was well. Everyone was hungry by the time the food was ready and as usual, there was a lot of food.
The lucky few that arrived early got a piece of Fillet Mignon, but the rest of the steak was quickly devoured by vicious mutant children.
There were three different dining rooms in the mansion in order to fit all of the children, but most of the students took their plates to their rooms or into the living room to fight over the television. The only ones that ate at the dinner table were the teachers and the students who were being punished. And Lenore.
"I don't want to eat them!" She yelled.
"C'mon, kid. Just eat the broccoli." Logan groaned.
"No!" Lenore pouted and tucked her hands underneath her armpits.
"Okay, now you're really starting to get on my nerves." He growled.
Kurt, who sat across from Logan and Lenore, smirked. "Hey, Lenore? You know what happened when I didn't eat my vegetables?" He said, leaning in toward her.
"What happened?" She asked, curious.
"How do you think I turned blue?"
Lenore shook her head. "I'm not stupid, Kurt."
Logan smirked at Kurt, but it quickly disappeared. "Lenny, he's telling the truth. I was there."
She looked at him, wide-eyed. "Really?" She asked, suddenly concerned.
He nodded. "Oh, yeah. He didn't eat any broccoli for two weeks and then poof! He woke up like that."
Lenore gulped and immediately began to scarf down the pile of vegetables on her plate. Kurt and Logan passed each other smirks.
Further down the table sat Samantha Barrington and Hank McCoy, who seemed to be enjoying each others company greatly. They hadn't had much time to catch up earlier, and now seemed to be the perfect opportunity.
"So how is everything going with the cure?" Samantha asked, sipping her glass of water.
Hank sighed and shook his head. "Unfortunately, not well."
"What do you mean?"
"I managed to get a hold of some mutant DNA and I fed it the cure. The results seem to have altered the X-Gene to make it inactive. Nothing's happened so far, but I'm guessing that it'll be some time before the effects are reversed."
"You wouldn't mind if I took a look, would you? I don't have much experience as a geneticist, but I remember some things from the college courses I took."
"Of course! Though, I can't guarantee that you'll find anything interesting."
Samantha smiled. "Oh, I don't expect to. It's just my curiosity itching at me."
Hank smiled back and they returned to small talk.
After dinner was over and most of the children had retreated to their rooms, Hank and Samantha went down into the sub-levels while the rest of the staff gathered in the living room to watch the evening news.
"Where do you think they're going?" Warren asked Kurt as they caught sight of Hank and Samantha disappearing down the hall.
"Perhaps somewhere a bit more... private?" Kurt suggested, and they both snickered.
Storm rolled her eyes as they all sat down around the television and flipped on the evening news.
Most of the stories were simple, typical car accidents and the omnipresent anti-mutant protests that went on downtown. Halfway through the first hour, Lenore fell asleep, sprawled out on the sofa next to Logan and Kurt had already gone to bed.
As usual, the news of the mutant riots came later during the program, when the coverage of a riot at one of the cure distributors that got violent was interrupted.
"We interrupt this broadcast to bring you breaking news," The news anchor announced. "It seems that just a few moments ago our news van pulled up to the scene of a grisly fire in Manhattan. We now go live to the scene with Tracey West."
The screen changed to show an attractive blond woman who held a bulky microphone to her face. A raging fire licked out from the windows of a building that stood roughly thirty feet behind her.
"Thank you, John." She said shortly. "As you can see behind me, a mutant cure distribution center is just one of many distributors that have been attacked in the last month-"
There was a large explosion from behind her, and the screen flickered once.
"Firefighters and police are doing their best to keep the fire under control, but their efforts seem useless as the fire seems to continuously grow."
"Move back! Move back!" Some police officers called from the background, running past the camera. The reporter and camera ran with them, and another explosion came from the flaming building.
"What the hell is that?" A voice said from somewhere off screen. The camera zoomed in, steadily focusing in on a human-shaped object that swooped across the sky, shadowed from behind the fire.
Suddenly, the camera went black and a harsh male voice said: "Hiya, buddy."
The sound cut off and a second later the screen returned to the news desk, where John Blaze sat, unfazed. "It looks as if we've lost connection, but we will now continue-"
The television shut off, and all eyes turned to Storm, who held the remote. "That voice..." She said, her eyes far away. "It sounded exactly like-"
"Pyro." Logan blurted angrily with his jaw clenched.
"Then it's true..." Warren said, taking a deep breath. "Magneto's back. The Brotherhood's back."
"That's our cue." Logan muttered, and they all stood.
"Warren, go get Hank and Samantha and tell them everything. Logan, put Lenore back in her room and make sure all of the students are asleep. I'll prep the Blackbird." Storm commanded, and they all dispersed.
[xxxxx]
As Warren raced through the hallways and down to the sub-levels, possibilities flew through his mind. If this really was the an attack by the Brotherhood, why were they bothering with small cure distributors? Usually Magneto went straight to the source, like with Alcatraz. Besides, if it was Magneto, he would already know that the cure didn't work. Things just weren't adding up...
Nevertheless, Warren did what Storm told him to. He reached the sub-levels, where he headed straight to Hank's lab, which was luckily not too far from the elevator. He rushed through the door, where he immediately laid eyes on the hairy Beast.
"Hank!" He shouted, and rushed over to him.
"My stars, Warren! You startled me." He said, focusing on a test-tube of some foul-smelling liquid. "Be quieter about it next time, eh?"
Warren pinched his nose, blocking out the smell. "There's an emergency, Hank. The Brotherhood's attacking Manhattan."
"What?" Hank said, and set the test tube back in its holder. "Where?"
"Just a cure distribution center, but it's messy. Storm says we're going in."
Hank nodded. "Go get ready. I'll tell Samantha."
Warren nodded once and left the room in a rush.
"Sam?" Hank called into the other room, connected only by a door. He knocked, and a moment later the psychologist emerged, smiling.
"Yes, Hank?" She asked sweetly.
"There's been an attack in Manhattan. It's the Brotherhood."
She gasped, but he continued.
"We're going to try and stop them, or at least try and clean up the mess."
She nodded. "Well, you better get going them. You don't have much time to lose."
"Alright." He said. "Look after the children."
They hugged quickly, and Hank turned to leave.
"Oh!" He said, turning around. "I almost forgot." He pulled a small device out of his pocket of his lab coat and handed it to Samantha. "If anything happens, just use this. It's for emergencies only."
She nodded and absentmindedly gave him a small peck on the cheek. She blinked for a moment or two afterward, but continued on, because Hank was already out of the room and down the hall.
[xxxxx]
Logan would've moved much faster than he did, but now he was holding Lenore, and he didn't want to wake up.
Because if she woke up, then she would want him to sleep in her room. then he would have to explain to her why he couldn't stay, and then she would want to come along, and everything would just get all messed up.
So instead of hurrying, he held Lenore steadily i his arms and slowly made his way to her bedroom.
On his way he didn't see any lights on aside from one that shut off as soon as he passed by. He smirked and continued on.
When he reached Lenore's room, Logan quietly opened the door. The room was still and dark, but the stars outside illuminated the bedroom enough for him to see everything.
He lowered Lenore into bed and removed her shoes before tucking her in, all the while trying not to wake her.
Before leaving, he shut the curtains, and as he made his way back to the door, he tripped over something and made a huge clattering noise. With the ruffling sound of moving sheets and a groan came Lenore's voice: "Logan? Is that you?" She asked groggily.
"Yeah." He said.
He could hear the smile in her voice. "Will you stay here? I feel safer when you're here." She said sweetly.
Logan sighed. "Sorry, kid, but I've gotta go talk to Storm." It was half of a lie. "I'll be back, though."
"Okay." Lenore said, and another ruffle of the sheets signaled that the conversation was over.
He hurried down to the sub-levels, where he guessed everyone else was already in the jet.
He quickly changed into costume and hurried into the hanger where the Blackbird was waiting.
"Nice of you to join us," Storm said as he took his seat near the head of the jet.
"I got side-tracked with a cute redhead who wanted me to spend the night with her."
Everyone gave a small chuckle aside from Storm, who seemed more focused on getting the Blackbird off the ground.
Within seconds, they were off into the sky, headed toward the city.
Beta'd by the magnificent martshi3!
Most of this was just filler... and it turned out a little colorless. Plus I wrote it around 3 am, so of course that never helps. Also, I know nothing about science, and I don't know if anything that Hank says toward the beginning is scientifically correct, but I tried to make it as professional-sounding as I could.
The title was a little make-shift, and I'm not exactly satisfied with it. I was gonna go with some sort of protection/security thing, but I couldn't think of anything clever-sounding, like I usually do (- lies).