AN: Little OOCness.

Chapter 8: Location

I sat around for a while, but boredom soon set in. I looked around the office. My eyes finally rested on a pile of papers on the desk. I carefully picked them up in my numb hands. I glanced at the first page. It had two access codes on it: one to the security and one to the danger room. Logan knew a lot more than those two. In fact, he knew them all, but he must've been able to convince them otherwise. I took that paper off the top and set it face down on the desk. I glanced at the next page and stopped breathing completely.

It was an information page on Scott Summers. The top half had two pictures of me: one school picture and one action picture. The bottom had way too much of my personal information. My name was first. Then there was my code name, health statistics, and a lot of other information. I pulled the page off and set it on the first one. The next page was for Jean Grey. It was set up the exact same way as mine. The next three pages were for Alex Summers, Marie Darkholme, and Logan. I shuddered slightly and set them on the others.

The next page was a map of the Institute, the floor plan to be exact. I studied it carefully. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary until I looked at the bedrooms. Alex's was circled in red and Rogue's had a blue ring around it. I moved that page off quickly.

The rest of the pages were blank information sheets. I set them on the others and put the whole pile back where I found it. I was looking around the room for something else to do when I heard the lock click to open. I put my wrists between my knees and waited for the person to come in and do what they pleased with me. I sat sill as the door opened. I debated whether or not to look at the person or not. Finally I decided not to.

Sabretooth stepped into my view. I tried hard to look like I was concealing fear.

"Wh-what's going on?" I asked.

Sabretooth chuckled, "I can smell fear, too. You aren't scared of me, but you ought to be."

I looked up at him and relaxed, "Well? What's going on?"

"You are in no position to demand anything from me!" Sabretooth boomed and sat on top of the desk. He watched me "I heard that one of the boys tried to take advantage of your girl a while ago." He was so smug.

I shrugged falsely, "He didn't get very far." I was trying very hard to conceal my anger and blow it off.

Sabretooth chuckled. I shot him a confused look. He looked at the clock on the desk. Suddenly another sharp pain fired through my body. I bent over in pain. I was trying to find someway to ease the pain when it ended. I glanced up at Sabretooth, practically begging him for an answer. He just stood up and went to the door.

"Come on," he ordered gruffly. "It's time for you to go to your new home."

"New home?" I stood up and went over to him.

Sabretooth nodded, "We moved you all into a bigger, more secure room. It's set right in the middle of the building."

He grabbed my bound wrists and pulled me into the hallway. Then he forced me to move along the halls. I just let him lead me toward the center of the building. Part way there, we met up with Magneto. We continued to walk, all three of us.

"He's on twenty minute intervals," Sabretooth reported. "He's standing them decently."

Magneto nodded. I stayed quiet as they talked about me. I didn't understand much of what they were saying, but I discreetly listened. They spoke of twenty minutes and pain. Finally we stopped. We were outside of a large metal door. I hoped that Alex had made it back all right. Sabretooth grabbed the large handle. He opened the door and Magneto pushed me through the narrow opening. I was in a large room.

Suddenly something crashed into my stomach and chest. I looked down to see Alex's blond head. I smiled and put my wrists over his head so that my arms were around his shoulders. I held him against my chest for a while. Alex had his arms around my waist. I didn't want this moment to end or to let him go ever again.

"I was so worried," Alex stated. "After Magneto finally started talking about you, he lied. He said you definitely had a concussion and possibly some brain damage. He said that you might not survive your stay here." I could hear the pain in his voice. "I just got back here and you were gone."

I gave his shoulders a slight squeeze. "I'm fine, Alex. I swear. They were testing us to see how we'd function separately."

Logan came up to us, "I'm sorry about the other night. If I could go back..." He let the sentence hang.

I looked up at him and nodded. "I know," I told him, "but it's too late for that. Right now do you think you can slice this cord?" I raised my bound wrists back over Alex's head.

"Sure thing, kid," Logan replied. He extracted one set of his claws and began to saw away at the plastic. It parted rather easily. As soon as I was free, Alex gave me another hug.

I smiled, "Are you ever going to let go of me?"

Alex laughed and eased up. I looked around the room for the first time. Unlike the other room, this one had a set of bunk beds and a couch, which Jean and Rogue were on. There was also a video camera in each corner at the ceiling. They were in clear protective bubbles.

"I see we're the entertainment," I stated as I went over to the couch. I sat down next to Jean. She wrapped her arms around my chest.

Logan nodded, "That bubble is unbreakable. Believe me, I've tried. They can watch us anywhere and at all times."

Something Sabretooth had said jarred my memory, "They were all ready listening in on us in the other room."

"What?" Rogue exclaimed.

I nodded, "Sabretooth told me that he could smell fear too. No one was in the room when we were talking about that. He had to have been eavesdropping on us."

I looked around the room again. This time I was looking at the number of doors. There were two of them. I came in through one and figured the other one was a bathroom. I glanced at Logan. He had Rogue on his lap. Logan held her against him rather tightly. Rogue was like a sister to me too. Logan was just a it more overprotective... and older. Alex squeezed in between the edge of the couch and me. I laughed and scooted over for him.

Suddenly the door opened. Pietro came in with a large cheese pizza. Lance followed with six bottles of cola. They set them down by the door and left. As the door was shutting, none of us moved. It was as if we were accepting our defeat. Alex jumped up and ran over to the food.

I laughed, "Are you hungry, Alex?"

"Aren't I always?" he shot back. "Where do you want to eat?"

"Take it out to the middle," Logan reported. He stood up and actually carried Rogue out to the middle. I rose as well. Jean let go of me to join Alex. We all sat in a circle on the floor. I was so hungry, but I still had to force the pizza down. As we ate, we talked.

"Did they hurt you?" Jean asked, referring to my latest adventure.

I shook my head, "No more than I all ready was. I was just reassurance that none of you would try to escape."

Logan tried unsuccessfully to smother a laugh. Rogue elbowed him in the ribs. "We wouldn't have left you, Scott."

I nodded absently. Logan probably wanted to try to escape, but Rogue stopped him. I sighed and took another piece of pizza. Then I remembered what I wanted to ask Alex earlier.

"Alex, does your watch have a timer?" I asked him. He nodded. "When I tell you, will you set it for nineteen minutes?"

"Sure," Alex replied, "if you tell me what's going on."

"I'm not exactly sure what's going on," I admitted, "but something they put in me causes pain every twenty minutes exactly. It feels like my entire nervous system is on fire for one solid minute. They want to test my durability."

I glanced up at one of the cameras before glancing at Jean. She smiled and took a sip of her pop. I reached out and took her free hand. She laced her fingers into mine. I gave her hand a little squeeze of reassurance.

"You're awfully quiet," I whispered. Jean locked eyes with me and shrugged.

I shot Alex a look, "Start it." Alex started the timer on his watch as pain elevated through my body. I glared at one of the cameras before bending over in pain. It passed soon, but not as soon as I'd hoped.

"One minute exactly," Alex told me when I sat back up. Jean squeezed my hand this time.

I smiled and the door opened. Sabretooth came in. Logan jumped up and growled. Sabretooth stayed in the doorway as Logan spoke.

"What did you do to him?" Logan demanded. I hadn't expected that to come from him.

Sabretooth smirked, "You don't really care about a high school kid, do you?" I wondered whether he meant Rogue or me. It didn't really matter though. That wasn't the reason he had come in here. It couldn't be.

"What do you want?" I asked, unsuccessfully covering my bluntness.

"Watch it, kid," Sabretooth warned me. "I came to tell you that you'll all be going back to the Institute tomorrow morning."

Then he left us to allow the confusion to settle in a bit. I, for one, was very confused. Why were we going back? Were Ororo and the Professor all ready here? Were we all going to go back together? I tried to ease my mind and just relax.

Every twenty minutes the explosive pain returned. We managed to rig Alex's watch though. The alarm went off one minute before the pain began. I stayed near Alex, because he was really scared. It was nothing like the Alex I knew. He was always so independent and fearless, but now he wouldn't even be half a room away from me. His discomfort only made me madder at our captors.

That night I lay awake as I always did. Logan and Rouge lay on the top bunk together. Logan had his arms around Rogue's covered body. I had been surprised when they fell asleep so early. Jean was asleep on the bottom bunk. She looked so peaceful. I was sitting on the couch with Alex. He had refused to leave my side, so here we were. I sat sideways, so my back was against the arm of the couch. Alex sat between my legs with his head resting on my chest. The lights were off.

"Scott?"

"I'm still here, Alex."

"Do you have any idea what's going on? What are they going to do to us?" Alex's voice was hushed, but I still glanced half-consciously at one of the cameras.

I wrapped my arms around my brother's torso and held him close. "I'm not sure. I think they're going to take us back to the Institute and try to force us to get the other to join the Brotherhood, but you know that I'll-"

Suddenly the door opened. Mystique came in and walked up to Alex and me. My grip on Alex tightened ever so slightly. We both looked up at her as she came over to us. She said nothing, but pushed a stray hair off Alex's forehead. He recoiled at the touch. Mystique looked at me. I could feel my anger boiling and wondered if Mystique knew it was there. She pushed back my brown hair to look at the bruise on my temple. I decided to let her.

"You don't get any drugs tonight," Mystique told us. "We're going to drug you all for the ride back tomorrow. You can stay awake all night if you wish." She turned around. "Just be ready to go early." She walked out the door and locked it rather loudly.

We sat in silence for a while. I held Alex against me as he lay across my chest. Finally I broke the silence.

"You can get some sleep," I told him. "I'll be right here when you wake up. I promise."

Alex sighed, "I don't think I can."

I nodded, "It's all right. I don't think I can either."

Suddenly Alex's watch beeped. I sighed and Alex looked straight up at me. I wondered how long it was going to be before these pains stopped completely. I waited anxiously for the minute to end, so the pain could come and go. I tensed, but the pain didn't come. Confusion settled in.

"Scott?"

"It doesn't hurt. Nothing's happening," I glanced up at one of the cameras.

Alex glanced at his watch. "They must've shut it off somehow. Did Mystique do anything unusual a moment ago?"

I thought for a moment, "Not that I can think of, but I don't doubt it. She probably triggered something that shut it off."

Alex and I stayed there all night. We talked some; we sat in silence a while. I felt a special connection with my little brother. He stayed against me for comfort. I didn't mind. I figured that I wasn't going to get any sleep, so I might as well make Alex feel safe. He sat awake until about four AM when he finally fell asleep. I didn't fall asleep that night. I held Alex the entire night until I heard the door open and Magneto came in the next morning.

TBC