CHAPTER FOURTEEN:

On the Prowl

AN: This chapter was SO MUCH EASIER to write than the last two. Writing about Victor securing the school was interesting and I looked up a lot of stuff on security (thank you son-of-a-citation-machine). Also, I just LOVE it when Sabretooth gets all protective and paternal. I absolutely love this chapter. I think it's one of my best. ;P

(Thank you Lord)

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Victor growled low in his throat as he stalked down the wide halls of the school, the cubs giving him a wide-berth, eyes wide and fear seeping from their pores. It annoyed him. He never hurt cubs.

*They will become accustomed to you in time, Victor.* came the cripples voice in his head. *You have to admit, you did leave quite a threatening legend.*

He growled low again. "I never hurt a cub, don't they know that?"

*No, they don't. But I will assure them, Victor.*

Sabretooth growled again. "Get out of my head, baldy, I've got work to do."

*Of course. If you need anything, just think it.*

The school was big…Too big….. There were so many entrances and exits it was ridiculous! And the windows; huge, high affairs. He tapped one window-pane with one claw, scowling when it easily cracked. If this Charles Xavier was so rich, why wasn't the school outfitted more securely!? He could break in her no problem.

He looked in the corners of the room he was currently in and was satisfied to at least see some video cameras. Experimentally, he made a fist and punched the wall, making a few students scream and scramble away. His fist easily shot through the dry-wall, crumbling and sending out puffs of cream-colored plaster. "Doesn't even have the right walling." He grumbled to himself, ignoring the panic of the cubs.

*Victor, you are scaring my students.* the cue-ball sounded firm.

"You're school needs an upgrade, baldy." He growled, unsure and uncaring whether or not the cripple could hear him. He turned just in time for a young mutant cub with blue scales for skin to run straight into him, falling down with a surprised "UMPH!"

Victor rolled his eyes, scowling, reached down and grabbed the cub by the scruff of his neck, hauling him up to his feet and sniffing for blood. "You're fine, cub, now get a move on." He swatted the young mutant lightly on the back.

The little boy with blue scales gaped at him, eyes wide in surprise, then he smiled, showing pointy teeth before scampering off with a "Thanks Mister!". Victor shook his head. He was getting too soft, he needed to kill something.

*VICTOR!*

Sabretooth growled in annoyance. If the cripple wasn't careful, he was going to give himself a heart-attack.

*If you need to hunt something, go to the woods!*

And leave his frail here? Hell, no. Not even with Jimmy to watch her.

Instead, he opened the door to the next room to encounter an entire class full of mutants sitting at tables with beakers while a big, furry blue guy stood infront of the classroom wearing a lab coat.

All of the students turned to look at him. Mouths fell open, some gasped. The blue guy narrowed bushy blue eyebrows. "Yes, can I help you?"

"Just checkin' the place out." He grunted, stalking into the room, ignoring the cubs as he went to the windows, looking out to the green garden below.

"I see, well, I'm teaching just now, is there anything you need to know in particular?"

He could smell the anxiety coming off of the blue furball, feel the mutant professor tense himself. He looked over to the teacher and smiled, showing pointed canines. "Well, well, well another feral. Can you fight?" he began to stalk slowly up to the front.

"If need be." The lab-coated mutant said, narrowing golden eyes at the other feral mutant, not backing down, his fur bristling out, making him look bigger. "I have fought many of your comrades and come out none-the-worse."

"Former comrades." Victor grunted, stopping his little stalk and standing straight, feet shoulder-width apart, well muscled arms crossed over his chest. He sniffed the air again, frowning when he scented blood. Following his nose, he looked to where a young mutant frail was sitting at one of the little tables, papers infront of her, a pencil clutched in her hand, red eyes wide. He pointed to her with one claw, looking back over to the blue furball. "Has your sense of smell stopped working or what!? " he growled accusingly. "Make sure that one eats some meat. You, of all mutants, should know how to care for a cub, even if she has just started her monthlies."

The mutant frail in question turned about six shades of red till her face matched her bright red eyes. Victor rolled his eyes, annoyed, and stalked out of the room, thinking of meat. How many cubs were in this darned school!? And how much meat was he going to have to hunt for!

*I assure you, Victor, I keep the children well fed.* Xaviers voice came into his head, sounding slightly insulted.

"If you mean 'not-hungry' yeah," Victor growled back. "None of'em are starve'n, but that doesn't mean they're gettin' the nutrients they need. I thought you were some kind of smart."

*I provide nutritious food.* Xavier defended.

"Yeah, but are the cubs actually eatin' it or just hiding it under their chairs?" he remembered Jimmy-boy as a cub trying to hide his peas instead of eating them by tucking them into his pants pocket. He hadn't counted on his older brothers sharp sense of smell. He had made Jimmy empty his pockets then soundly paddled his bottom, telling him he had better eat what was put infront of him or else.

*There are over a million students here, Victor, I cannot keep track of the eating habits of all of them.* Xavier groused.

For the first time in a long time, maybe centuries, Victor tripped a little in shock, choking. "Over a million!?" he groused to himself. "Hell, we need a damn cattle ranch just to keep these cubs fed!" Maybe three! And what about vegetables? Being a feral, he didn't really need them, just meat, but these other cubs would.

*We have a large vegetable garden and suppliers.* Xavier told him calmly.

Victor grumbled. "I need to see yer cafeteria. How do I get there?"

He followed the directions Xavier gave him, taking note of the cubs he passed in the halls; that one was doing just fine, that one didn't have enough iron, that ones mutation was causing problems with her eyes and would need to be looked into.

Finally, he came to the cafeteria. It was a huge room with a buffet and lots of long mahogany tables and chairs. Considering how many students there were, the lunch hours in the cafeteria had to be alternated, so there was always a bunch of kids in the cafeteria at some point or another.

Victor stalked up to the buffet table, examining the foods. As he expected, the trays holding vegetables (potatoes, corn, peas, carrots) were completely full and the desert trays (cheesecake, tiramisu, cookies, pudding) were all empty. He growled low in his throat, showing his displeasure. These cubs needed some discipline.

He went over to the tray full of carrots, grabbed one and sniffed it, displeased when he scented chemicals. "Can't you get organic food, wheels!?"

There was a moment of silence and then; *I will definitely look into that, Victor. I had no idea that the vegetables had chemicals in them.*

"Not in them, necessarily." Victor grumbled. "But they were treated with them. Do you know what that can do to a cubs system!?"

More than a few cubs had turned to watch him when he had entered the cafeteria, and now he was the recipient of a lot more. They probably thought he was talking to himself. He growled at them. HE was the alpha, and they had better get used to it.

He stalked up to one cub and examined her food tray, noting the cookies, pudding, cake and (at least showing SOME sense) a cube steak. He grabbed hold of the cookies, crumbling them in his huge hand, then the cake, tossing it into a near-by trash-can.

The girl gawked at him, in shock for a moment, then started to complain. "HEAH! Those were mine!"

He growled at her, showing one pointed canine. "You eat what's good for you, cub, or I'll tan your hide."

The girl gulped.

Another boy spoke up. "Who're you to tell us what we can and can't eat!?" one boy proclaimed. Quickly, Sabretooth launched himself over there, jumping, easily clearing the twenty feet. He grabbed the offending kid by the scruff of the neck and hulled him up, dangling him in the air.

The students started screaming.

*VICTOR! PUT HIM DOWN NOW!*

`I'm not gonna hurt the cub, wheels` Victor 'thought' back. `But he has to know the pecking order. You've been too lax on the cubs.` Then he spoke to the boy. "I'm the new alpha, cub, and I'm here to put things in order."

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Brown, Chris. "How to Secure Your Home Perimeter." ehow. N.p.. Web. 14 May 2013. how_6497451_ .

Cohen, Gail. "How to Create a Secure Work Building Security." Chron. Driven by Demand Media. Web. 14 May 2013. . .