Haunted
Chapter 19
Lana yawned as she stood between Kurt and Anton before scratching the back of her head in a laid back manner. It was the middle of the night and the Professor had called for an urgent meeting. "What could be so bad that it could not wait until morning?" Anton grumbled, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
"That is what we are here to find out." Lana replied, suddenly deciding to be a smart ass. She was not a morning person and as such was prone to snap at anyone who spoke. "I just hope the problem will be over quick."
"Since when is anything that requires us to wake up at three in the morning over quickly?" Evan asked while crossing his arms. The Russian twins simultaneously slumped their shoulders and groaned in a way that showed they agreed with him but weren't happy with the fact. Kurt patted Lana's shoulder in sympathy and left his hand there. She heard Anton snicker and she shot him a look that made him shut up. But he was still grinning like a Cheshire cat.
Finally the door to the elevator opened and the Professor rolled out. "I apologize for the late hour." He said, directing the question more towards Svetlana as she straightened her posture. "But I got an urgent summons from General Stone."
Lana raised an eyebrow. "As in the man who is supposed to be looking over Juggernaut?" she asked, earning a confused look from her brother.
"He hasn't escaped again, has he?" Kurt asked.
"Not yet." The Professor said. "But his containment unit has begun to fail."
"We'll be suited up and ready to go in five." Scott said before issuing the command for the others to move.
The Professor stopped him, stating that he would be going alone. "But Ms. Monroe is in Africa and Logan is out gallivanting somewhere." Anton said, sweeping his arm out to show his point.
"'Gallivanting?'" Lana asked, slightly impressed at her brother's vocabulary but choosing to push that aside in favor of poking fun at him a little. He stuck his tongue out at her before returning his attention to the Professor.
"That matter has already been taken care of. Scott and Jean will be in charge. However, Svetlana will be the main line of defense should something happen."
The three mentioned people looked at each other before nodding. "We'll hold down the fort here." Jean said, putting the Professor at ease. "You just worry about your brother."
Anton's eyebrows shot up and he shot Lana a questioning glance which she responded to by shaking her head, a promise of sorts to explain things to him later. The Professor left with the promise to see them soon and everyone headed off to bed, ignoring Scott when he suggested going to the Danger Room. Lana paused for a brief moment before jumping on Anton's back for a piggy back ride. "You can walk!" he stated, slightly annoyed.
Lana's response was to bury her face between his shoulder blades and mumble a tired "Ty lyubush' menya."
He sighed and said, "Da, da." Before continuing to walk to their room. As he opened the door Lana shifted slightly so she could see Kurt across the hall closing his. She smiled and winked at him and he turned a slight shade of violet. She giggled before Anton turned to shut the door.
"You want to do what?" Lana asked, crossing her arms and leaning against the locker next to Kitty's.
"Throw a party." Kitty replied, looking annoyed at having to repeat herself even though it was obviously a rhetorical question.
"I got that part." Lana said, rolling her eyes. "My question was how are you going to pull it off with Jean and Scott?"
Kitty, Kurt, Evan and Anton all visibly deflated. "Oh yeah." Kitty said. "Well, can't you take care of that?"
"Do not drag me into this." Lana pushed herself off the locker. "I want no part of it."
"Aw, come on." Kitty whined, leaning forward slightly to get into the taller girl's face. "No one's better at hiding a secret than you. Please?"
Lana flinched slightly at the guilty feeling that Kitty's comment made in the pit of her stomach. The brunette really had no idea. Her mismatched eyes glided over the hopeful faces of the others before she let out a sigh. Damnthem. She mentally cursed before crossing her arms and taking a stance that showed she didn't like what she was about to do and ignoring the high-fives that went around.
"You really are a sucker for the puppy-dog look, huh." Rogue said as she walked up to stand next to Lana.
"Only when it comes to you people." The Russian replied, slumping slightly before correcting her posture and rubbing her eyes. "I hate American drinking age restrictions."
Lana leaned against the railing of the main staircase in the foyer. She was dreading the repercussions of her actions and really wanted nothing more than to get blissfully plastered. Anton patted her back gently, trying to get his sister to calm down. She had been sleeping less lately and even snuck out of the mansion once or twice and it was starting to worry him. "Iseverythingallright?" he asked, giving her a concerned look.
She raised an eyebrow. Since when has anything been all right within the current year? She wondered. Instead of voicing that thought, however, she just let out a weary, "Da. Just tired."
He frowned but didn't question it. He knew that trying to push her would only make her blow up in his face. And that was never good for his health. Kurt suddenly appeared with his arm around Kitty's shoulder and Lana's mood soured. Anton elbowed her and smirked, causing her to roll her eyes and divert her attention to the suddenly interesting floor. "We're all set." Kurt said, holding up the ignition part of Scott's car while Kitty held up Jean's cell phone. "Now we just have to set up."
"Velikiĭ." Lana muttered sarcastically before walking towards the kitchen. She had a feeling that this would be a long night.
Hours later Lana was sitting on a window seat in the library while reading a book of short stories by Edgar Allen Poe when something outside caught her eye. It was a pair of eyes that were a very familiar shade of bright orange. "What now?" she wondered aloud before sighing and setting down her book. With an annoyed growl she stepped forward and phased into the wall, not really planning to be back until morning.
She reappeared next to a figure that was almost six inches taller than her and crossed her arms. "What is it now, Vladimir?" she asked, her voice portraying her annoyance.
"Is that any way to treat an old friend?" Vladimir asked, choosing to stick to the shadows instead of taking the two steps that would have made him visible to her in the light. Lana simply snorted and narrowed her eyes, causing the man to sigh. "Fine. I'm here to discuss that debt you owe me."
"If I am not mistaken I took care of that last night." She replied icily. She didn't want to deal with this man more than she had to and he could tell that he was overstaying his welcome, yet he pressed on.
"You did, but only part of it." Her growl told him to get on with it and he held his hands up in an attempt to calm her down. "Now, now. The next part is very simple." He motioned towards the deeper part of the forest surrounding the Manor. "Shall we discuss it in private?"
Svetlana stared at him blankly for a few seconds before turning on her heel and heading in the general direction in which Vladimir was motioning. "This had better be worth my time, Vladimir." There was a thinly veiled threat in her voice that did not go unnoticed by him and he watched her with a glint of amusement in his eyes before following her into the wood.
Upon her return, Svetlana noticed a few things. For one, Jean and Scott were back. Shit. Secondly DEFCON 4 had been activated. Fuck. And last but not least, every single piece of training and security equipment on the grounds was trying to kill her. FML.
She sighed and melted into the ground, reaching up once she was under the machines and deactivating them while trying to cause as little damage to them as possible as she made her way to the mansion. She made her way down to the sub-levels using the walls as her own personal highway and appeared next to the trouble makers as they attempted to dodge flamethrowers in the hallways. She crossed her arms and gave them a glare, remaining completely calm. "And what, pray tell, is going on here?" She asked before nonchalantly ducking to avoid being fried and then standing up again.
"Well it's a funny story, actually. You see-"
"No time!" Kurt yelled, cutting Anton off as he grabbed the Russian twins and teleported them into the security room. The others were already there and Kitty was explaining who the computer nerd that was messing around with Cerebro was.
Svetlana rolled her eyes and started to once again melt into the floor. "You deal with Nergal, I will take care of guns."
The team made their way to Cerebro without delay thanks to Lana's effective disarming technique. When they finally got to the room she snuck Rogue in and held up the boy when her companion sapped his energy. "Have fun explaining this one." She said to those involved with the party as she and Rogue carried Arcade up to the foyer. "Because I will not help you. At all." The two girls set the boy down on the couch as the others shooed away the rest of the guests.
As the boy awoke and started to explain what had happened Lana surveyed the damage and sighed. Looks like I will owe Vladimir another favor. She thought bitterly before turning to the sound of the doors opening. She frowned as the Professor wheeled in and glared at the back of the boy's head.
"Do not be angry at him, Lana." Xavier said calmly. "He is not to blame." He then addressed Arcade, telling him that there was a taxi waiting outside to take him home. As the boy left, Svetlana took in the slightly damaged grounds. At least she was able to keep that damage to a minimum.
Those standing with her on the stairs were startled when she suddenly growled, baring her fangs as her eyes changed to their unnatural orange. She charged off, running at a slight angle to the left towards the wall that bordered the property. As she tore across the grounds the Professor looked ahead of her, trying to see what she saw. All he could make out was the silhouette of a startled raven flying off into the sky. They watched as she jumped up onto the wall and then catapulted herself into the air, her arm reaching for the bird and just barely missing the creature. She landed on the wall again in a crouched position and growled once more in anger as her catch flew away.
As she made her way back to where the others were standing she began to connect the dots. Juggernaut's containment system was built to never falter unless the Professor himself unlocked it and that geeky twerp (in her opinion) wouldn't have been able to find Cerebro unless guided by someone who knew where to find it. Add all that to the fact that Mystique was just fleeing the scene of a crime and you got one big plot that came together all too perfectly. The real question was what her end game is. Most likely information, but it was really hard to tell what exactly she was looking for since absolutely everything was stored in Cerebro.
She was so lost in thought that she walked right past the small group gathered to watch her odd behavior without acknowledging their very existence. She didn't pause until she heard the crunch of glass. The X-men walked in just in time to see her open a window and let out a long howl-like cry. Before they could even shoot her questioning glances a man materialized between the Russian and them.
He was tall, about six feet even, and wore a trench coat very similar to Lana's. His shined leather shoes, black dress pants, black button-down shirt and blood-red tie spoke of money, at least to the extent of never-going-hungry. His long black hair was tied back into a ponytail similar to Anton's only more untamed and his neon orange eyes bore into those of the young woman in front of him. "You called?" He asked, his voice flowing out of his mouth like rich honey.
Lana motioned to the chaos around them. "Could you work your magic?"
He surveyed the damage caused by the teenagers and smirked. "Are you sure?" He questioned with amusement clear in his voice. "You just finished paying off your debt to me for helping you out of that lovely ambush last month."
"Ambush?"
Lana flinched at the group exclamation that came from those gathered behind the man before fixing him with an annoyed glare. "I would not ask if I was not sure."
He laughed and nodded before turning to face the small crowd behind him. "Ah, Anton. Lovely to see you again."
Crossed his arms and frowned, the action only feeding the man's amusement. "Who is he?" Kurt whispered even though he knew that both the man and Svetlana could probably hear him.
"How rude of me." The man said while flashing a polite smile. "My name is Vladimir and I am Princess Svetlana's fiancée."