Jennifer Brandon sat alone outside. Around her recess went on. Some of the kids played basketball. A group of girls gathered in a clique to chat. Many of them gave Jennifer thinly-veiled looks of distaste. They must have heard her little "discussion" with her overbearing, soon-to-be-ex-husband Louis. None of this was going as she planned. Bad enough that this "Kurt" Regis wrote so glowingly about had gone missing for the day, but now Regis was gone as well. How could that idiot headmaster be so blasé about this? A grown man and a young boy, both missing? Didn't he realize how this looked?
It was her husband's idea to drop Regis off at "mutant high". He was such a coward, hiding behind that "he needs to be instructed" excuse. He just didn't want to be bothered caring for their boy. That way he could go on those business trips without hiring a Goddamned baby-sitter. This place was a mistake. She was getting him out of here, if she had to drag Regis into court to do it.
The problem was that she had to get to Regis first, and nobody here was being all that helpful. Louis was being obstructive, the teachers were frosty at best, and that Logan character should be in prison. The students gave her an "I don't know where he is" song and dance. One of the younger ones actually came out and said "professor says we're not supposed to talk to you." This was illegal. They couldn't keep her away from her son like this.
All right, if they were going to play dirty, she would too. This was her son. Everything was fair. She put on her best worried and loving face and started slowly walking around the grounds. The news couldn't have spread to every single child in this school, and one of these uninformed students was sure to notice this. One of them was sure to ask her what was wrong.
Her efforts bore fruit within a few minutes. As she was walking by the start of a vegetable garden, a swarthy young boy looked up from his duties.
"Are you looking for someone, ma'am?" he asked.
Bingo. She turned to look at him. He was on his knees between rows of young sprouts, spreading some kind of mulch around. He absently touched one of the sprouts, and the leaves pulsed a deeper green and grew a good quarter-inch all the way around. Gee, guess what his ability must have been.
"I'm looking for Regis," Mrs. Brandon said politely, putting just the right dash of worry in her voice. "Nobody seems to know where he is."
The boy stood up and looked about. "I'm not sure where he is, either. I've been out here all morning. Maybe Kurt knows."
Of course he knows, dammit! The two of them are together somewhere doing God-knows-what! Aloud, she said, thoughtfully, "Kurt. Isn't that Regis' private teacher? He's told me so much about him, and I'd really like to meet him, if I could."
The boy blinked. "Really? Regis described him and everything?"
In truth, Regis had only said the man was German with short black hair, that he was a gymnast, and he was helping him with teleporting. She wouldn't know what this guy looked like if he walked right by her. She hoped he hadn't at some point. That would blow her cover with this kid. She took a chance.
"He described him right down to his toenails," she said, smiling gently. "I'd like to thank him for the wonderful job he's been doing. Regis seems so fond of him."
"Yeah, they're really close," the boy agreed.
Inside, Jennifer squirmed. Outside, she kept that insipid smile firmly plastered in place.
"You might try going to see Kurt," the boy continued. "He's probably in his room right now. I can take you there if you like."
That was the last thing she wanted. The rest of the little hoodlums would surely warn him off. "Oh, no, don't trouble yourself. Just tell me where his room is. I'm sure I can find it myself."
:
Jaideep gave the woman directions and watched her go. She strode back to the mansion quickly. Weird; he didn't think that a non-mutant would be that keen to see Kurt when they knew what he looked like. She must be really understanding. He went back to his work. The new cocoa husk mulch held a lot of promise for weed suppression and water retention.
"Hey, Jay, what was that about?"
He looked up at the sound of Artie's voice. "Oh, that was Regis' mom. She was looking for him."
Artie looked horrified. "You didn't tell her where he was, did you?"
Jaideep answered slowly, a sick feeling growing in the pit of his stomach. "Why?"
"Because she's a real b-i-t-c-h, Jay!" Artie exploded, spreading his arms wide. "The prof said we shouldn't tell her anything, remember?"
Jaideep shook his head and stood up. "I've been out here all morning. I haven't seen Professor Xavier since breakfast."
"Jay, what'd you tell her?" Artie shouted.
"I-I told her to talk to Kurt--"
"Are you nuts? You sent a normal to see Kurt?"
"She said Regis told her all about him!"
"She's lying! Regis never told anyone what Kurt looks like! They all still think he tried to kill the President!"
Jaideep turned almost as pale as Artie. "Oh my God…."
:
Jennifer strode up the third flight of stairs. According to the little gardener, Kurt's bedroom was down at the end of the corridor, to the right. She walked down the carpeted hallway, the sounds of her footsteps conveniently muffled. Good. If she was right, and they were in that man's room together, she wasn't about to give him any warning time to dispose of any evidence. If she was right, Xavier's school was going down. That publicity nightmare last year would be nothing compared to a pedophilia scandal. She'd be sure to get custody of Regis.
She heard footsteps running up the stairs as she closed in on Kurt's room. Dammit, someone must have noticed. They weren't stopping her. She bolted to the door and opened it. Then she screamed.
Scott tore up the last flight of stairs as Mrs. Brandon let out a horrified screech. She did it. That arrogant, manipulative cow actually did it. She'd busted into Kurt's room. Somewhere behind him, Jaideep and Artie tried to keep up, and Mr. Brandon was passing them by. Scott heard more and more people coming up the stairs as news of this spread through the school. As he leapt out into the corridor, Ororo joined him. She must have flown in through one of the adjacent rooms' open windows.
"Get away from him!" Mrs. Brandon was screaming. "You get away from him!"
"Frau Brandon--" Kurt's trembling voice pleaded.
"Mom! Let go of me!" Regis shouted.
It was all happening at once. Scott and Ororo got to the doorway at the same time. Kurt was moving back from the raging woman, a nervous hand up as if to ward her off. Mrs. Brandon was holding Regis by the elbow so hard that his skin was turning white around her fingertips. The boy was trying to free himself, and finally teleported out of her grasp, reappearing in front of Kurt.
"Regis!" she shrieked. "You come here right now! Get away from that monster!"
Ororo stood between mother and son, half an inch from Mrs. Brandon's face. "You've got two seconds to get out of this room!"
"And you've got one second to give me back my son before I call the police!" Mrs. Brandon shouted back. "How dare you keep that thing in here? That's the Oval Office Assassin!"
Thunder rumbled above and the wind picked up. Kurt was desperate to leave. There was an angry, startled outsider in his room, screaming about her son. Hatred and protective zeal; the most dangerous combination he could imagine. There were plenty of places he could teleport to where this harpy would never find him. But he couldn't just leave Regis, and he couldn't take him along without creating more trouble. He was trapped. He caught movement behind the two arguing women, and saw that Mr. Brandon had joined Scott in the doorway. The man's eyes and mouth opened wide as he saw Kurt.
Dear, merciful God, this can't be happening, Kurt thought, frozen in abject terror. Make it all go away. Strike me dead now. Just stop this. Don't make me go through this again. Don't make Regis go through this with me.
"Dad, she's trying to take me away!" Regis pleaded.
Mrs. Brandon whirled on her spouse, eyes wild. "You knew this! You knew what was going on! You knew what this thing was doing to him!"
"He's not doing anything to me!" Regis screamed at the top of his lungs. "And he's not a thing! Stop calling him that! He's a man! He's my teacher!"
Mrs. Brandon didn't seem to have heard her son, or she simply didn't care. "This is grounds for divorce if I ever heard one! He's coming straight home with me right now!"
Mr. Brandon snapped out of whatever daze he was in and glared at his wife. "Look, I didn't know who this Kurt was any more than you did, but if you think you're just waltzing out of here with Regis tucked under your arm--"
"Do you want this to end up in divorce court?" she shrieked. "I'll do it, Louis! And then you'll have to explain all sorts of uncomfortable things!"
Mr. Brandon turned scarlet right up to the tips of his ears. "Do you realize what the courts will do when they realize that our son is a mutant? Do you realize what the media will do to him?"
"Then you'd better think twice about keeping him away from me, shouldn't you?"
Something burned behind Kurt's eyes. His voice grew harsh, inhuman, even demonic, with his anger.
"How dare you?" he hissed. When the woman turned on him, he roared, "How dare you attack your husband through your son!"
His bared his fangs, his arm protectively reaching across Regis' chest, holding the boy close. His tail lashed so viciously that it actually broke one of the heavy wooden knobs off of his bed. The piece went flying across the room, ricocheting off the wall and bouncing twice on the floor before rolling to a stop, leaving dents wherever it struck.
The woman stared at Kurt with eyes wide as dinner plates. The color seemed to pale in her iris, from blue to almost steely gray. Color drained away from her face as well. She backed up two steps toward the door, eyes fixed on the violent creature in front of her. Suddenly she spun and bolted through the doorway. When Mr. Brandon tried to stop her, she punched him in the jaw. Hard. She actually managed to knock the man down. Whether from physical fitness or adrenaline, that little woman had a lot of strength in her. She scattered the waiting kids as she fled down the stairs. Scott picked Mr. Brandon up off of the floor and made ready to chase after her.
"No, let her go," Mr. Brandon said. "Let her run off and hide somewhere. I should've known she'd try this ... I should've known."
"Has she done this before?" Ororo asked.
Mr. Brandon's eyes flicked to his son, and to Kurt, for a moment before returning to Ororo. "I'll explain later." He dabbed at his split lip and examined the blood on his finger. "Damn. She really got me, this time. I hope she broke her knuckles."
A car started outside, just audible over the gale-force winds. Scott knew the engines of all the institute's cars, and it wasn't one of theirs. Mr. Brandon raced to the picture window and looked down as the car peeled rubber on the asphalt. Ororo and Scott were there beside him instantly, just in time to catch Mrs. Brandon speeding away, clumsily placing her cell phone's handsfree set on her head with one hand and steering with the other.
"I don't believe it!" Mr. Brandon shouted. "She took off with the rental!" He whipped his cell phone out of his suit pocket and started hitting numbers, grumbling, "This just became a race." There was stunned silence in the hallway as Mr. Brandon stared at the ceiling, waiting for someone to pick up on the other end. "Yes, this is Louis James Brandon, and I need to freeze the joint account I share with my wife...." He closed his eyes and momentarily clenched his teeth. "I don't care if she's on the other line, I need that account frozen right now, or she'll drain it dry... One word, buddy: divorce... Yes, I thought you would...."
Scott watched the outside, though the car was gone from view, listening to the over-revved engine as it faded away. He expected that this man was going to have to call every single bank, credit union, credit card, and brokerage firm he dealt with, and then probably his lawyer. A long and involved process, and, unfortunately, one that would have to be done right now. Ororo looked back to Kurt's bedroom, where Artie and Jaideep had pushed their way in.
"Regis, I'm so sorry," Jaideep apologized. "If I knew what was going on, I would never have told her where Kurt was."
"She lied to you, right?" Regis asked sullenly.
"Yeah. She said you told her all about Kurt."
"It's okay. Sometime she does that when she wants something bad enough. She's real good at it."
Ororo made a subtle motion to Scott that she was going back to Regis. Scott just as subtly nodded and shifted his stance to indicate he was staying by Mr. Brandon.
"Jeez, your mom lies to you?" Artie asked, shocked.
"No, just to strangers," Regis answered. "I guess she figures it's okay if she doesn't know you or something."
Ororo reentered Kurt's room. Regis was sitting miserably by Kurt, leaning into his shoulder and staring down at the floor. Kurt was still hugging Regis to his side, though no longer so protectively.
A tear ran down Regis' cheek; he seemed unaware of it. "I hate her. I wish she was dead."
"I think that is not being honest to yourself," Kurt said softly. "I think it is more likely you love her and you wish she would stop hurting you."
Ororo bent down to Artie and Jaideep, her fingertips on their shoulders and her voice very quiet. "Guys, why don't you give Regis some space for now? And tell the other kids to give him space, too. We'll let you know how everything goes in a little while. All right?"
"We'll be downstairs, okay, Regis?" Artie said as he and Jaideep left the room. As they reached the corridor, Ororo heard Artie's voice again. "C'mon, guys, Ms. Munroe says we should go."
Footsteps shuffled off and thundered down the wooden stairs. The wind stopped blowing outside, though it would be a while longer before the skies cleared. Regis leaned forward, gently breaking free of Kurt's hold. He dropped his glasses to the floor and put his head in his hands. His shoulders jerked silently. Ororo sat to the other side of him and put her hand on his back, mentally running through all of the horrible things she wished she had done to his mother. This wasn't just Mrs. Brandon's son. Every child in this mansion belonged to Storm. She was their Sekhmet, their lioness, their protector. If Kurt hadn't scared the hag away, Ororo would have heaved her down the stairs.
"Kurt," the professor's voice called softly from the hallway.
Kurt looked up to see Xavier gesturing for him to come closer. He reluctantly left Regis' side. Ororo took over, pulling Regis close. Kurt got to the doorway and hesitated. He could vaguely hear Mr. Brandon talking on his cell phone halfway down the long hall, right next to the picture window.
"He wants to speak with you, Kurt," Xavier told him.
Kurt's heart leapt into his mouth yet again. "Professor, do you think that's a good idea? Haven't I caused enough trouble today?"
Xavier sighed and looked back down the corridor. Now that Kurt was at the doorway, he could hear Mr. Brandon's words more clearly.
"…Yeah, that's right … Probably … Then hire a moving company to pack her stuff up and leave it outside, I don't care. She's not getting into the house…."
"This has been brewing since before Regis came to the school," Xavier explained quietly. "I'm not quite sure what brought it to so violent a head, but it wasn't you. Once Mister Brandon finishes up with his immediate business, he has made it clear he wishes to speak with you personally. I do not believe his intentions are hostile."
Kurt looked down at his attire. He had just finished his class when the Brandons showed up. He was still clad in sweat pants, vest, and nothing else. Mr. Brandon was in a designer three-piece suit which probably cost a month's worth of Kurt's salary. The disparity between them couldn't have been more extreme.
"Should I not change?" he asked.
"Trust me, Kurt; there is nothing in your possession that could make Mister Brandon see you in a different light than you are right now."
He backed his wheelchair up, clearly implying that Kurt should step out into the hallway. Kurt hunched over as he closed the door behind him, the tip of his tail brushing the floor and shaking nervously. He fell into a crouch against the wall.
Louis glanced at Scott and nodded quickly, making a casual wave of dismissal as he spoke on the cell phone. Scott nodded and walked back to join the professor and Kurt.
To Scott, the change in Kurt was like the difference between night and day. When Kurt was with the students, when he felt secure with his friends, he was outgoing and gregarious. He stood up straight. He joked. He smiled without fear. Dump one unexpected newcomer into the equation, and their lively entertainer retreated into a shell and slammed it tight. Even now he was curled up in a ball on the floor, looking down at the rug in front of him with the dull fear of a condemned man.
Part of Scott wanted to tell Kurt to stand up straight. Stop hiding. Stop running from conflict. Stop whimpering in the corner like a whipped puppy. Look people in the eye, dammit. But the other part of Scott kept hearing Mrs. Brandon's horrified screams. Kurt's infuriatingly submissive posture was a hard-learned, and likely vital, defensive measure. If he ever fought back, it could turn a personal fight into a mob situation once his attacker called on their friends. Skulking and running from conflict kept him alive. They were probably the only things that had kept him alive.
Kurt glanced up at Scott. "Is it true that half of all American marriages … end up like this?"
Scott looked back at Mr. Brandon before returning his gaze to Kurt. "Half of them end up in divorce, but not like this. This is especially nasty."
Mr. Brandon flipped his cell phone closed and turned his attention to the trio at the end of the hall. He looked at Kurt, took a deep breath, straightened his shoulders, and strode to him. When it became clear that Kurt wasn't going to stand up, Scott nudged him into doing so. The demonic man finally stood, though he still stayed in that hunched over stoop.
"Jennifer'll be calling me when she realizes she can't get into anything," Mr. Brandon stated, looking at all three men. "I'll have to take that call." He looked at Kurt specifically. "Until then, I want to speak with you, Mister Wagner. Is there somewhere private we can go?"
"We have offices downstairs, or you can use one of the unoccupied rooms in this wing," Xavier suggested.
"I'll take the latter. Just point me to one."
Xavier looked at Kurt, waiting. A second later, Kurt realized what he was being silently commanded to do. He swallowed and nodded, forcing himself to look up in Mr. Brandon's eyes.
"This way, Mister Brandon," Kurt said softly, leading him to a guest room across the hall.
To be concluded…..