Disclaimer It's all Marvel's. No money made. Suing will profit no one.
Want? Take ... Have ... just lemme know where it's going :)
So, this was where they lived. Quite remarkable, really, that they had remained undetected for so long. The man standing before the gates of the Mansion, just out of range of the neatly concealed cameras, studied what he could see of the grounds thoughtfully. It was probably no little testament to the telepathic suggestion that Xavier was so capable of. The idea of a group of mutant children being able to stay discreet was, frankly, preposterous. But it suited his purpose quite magnificently. One surgical intrusion would net the ones he wished to study, and who was to miss what they didn't know was there?
After a few more moments the man returned to the open back door of the limousine and slipped into the shadowed interior as he spoke.
"Home, Scrambler"
The black car rolled away.
"You're kidding."
"Mais, non. Scott said we could borrow his car t' go t' th' Mall b'fore he went wit' Jean, Stormy n' Logan t' see Le Professeur. Would Remy lie?"
Kitty put a finger to her lips as if actually considering this as some kind of valid question. She pondered the sheen of utmost innocence that had settled across the red on black eyes that were meeting hers.
"In a heartbeat, and probably, like, just for practise. But it's okay, I can say I was totally fooled when Scott starts yelling and the Professor does that thing with his eyebrows. I'll go get the others."
Remy watched her phase through the corridor carpeting and heard the soft thump as she landed outside the Rec Room below and shivered slightly. He could supercharge anything to make it explosively unstable. He was in a house where he had to pick blue hair out of the shower, duck flying projectiles of bone on Football Sundays, his Rogue couldn't be touched; and he was freaked out by Kitty just making herself less dense than whatever she happened to be standing on.
Shaking his head at his own quirk, he headed to his room to retrieve his duster, then Scott's room for the keys. As it happened, he had permission to drive the younger kids to the Mall for The Great Christmas Shop in the red convertible. Scott had been willing to negotiate anything including his soul to get out of doing the babysitting on the day out, Gambit had just taken use of the car for a week and a small favour to call in later. Never knew when you would need a favour.
The keys were taped to the door, he peeled them off and whistled quietly between his teeth as he jogged back towards the stairs and the small cacophony of voices growing in the hall.
A quick head count before the door showed everyone but Evan and those with the Professor had decided to wreak their own particular brand of chaos and disorder on the innocent and unsuspecting stores. He had no illusions at all he'd be able to keep them under control, but damage limitation wouldn't be including apologies for mysterious holes in walls. Again.
"Kay mes petits enfants, we try t' keep collateral damage t' th' minimum dis time, oui?"
Rogue's eyes widened, then narrowed as she opened the front door to be first down the steps. She muttered under breath.
"Little children, huh? We'll see about that"
One gloved hand reached over to bring Kitty closer to her, Kurt and Remy watched with a measure of worry as the two girls ahead whispered and finally giggled as they crunched through the snow on the way to the car.
"Dis can't be good."
"Nein. I think it is time to buy that ticket to Brazil after all, yes?"
Jean had never been a habitual nail biter, but the sick worry forming in her gut made it suddenly understandable. She clenched her hands into fists to avoid giving into the sudden temptation to begin as Scott's lips tightened over whatever response he had been thinking of giving in the silence following the Professor's declaration. Instead Ororo's measured tones stepped in, slightly slow, thoughtful and precise.
"But do you not feel that interference with this group of ... people ... will only endanger the school further? They will be watching us. Was it even safe to allow the shopping trip?"
"It is precisely because they are watching us that activities must be seen as normal." Xavier shook his head, allowing a frown to show his own difficulty with the decision. "They are not going far. And we must take some measure. If we do nothing, it will be entirely their own game, their timing; something which I think none of us wants."
Logan's growl was more in keeping with the Wolverine for which he was named, almost vicious, biting. "So what are we meant to do, exactly? Start wearing Mutant Pride badges and hope?"
"No. I will talk to Abigail first. If we can enlighten her, reason with her, we may at least be able to stop the focus being on the Institute."
"This ... " Jean stopped at all eyes turned to her, then unclenched her hands and smoothed her fingers over her jeans. "... isn't really going to go away, is it? I mean, even if Abigail does listen, the people she was with won't. And even if they did there'll always be somebody else. Are we going to hide forever?"
Xavier shook his head once more, this time smiling. "No Jean. Not forever. We will reach them all, even if we have to argue the dream one person at a time."
Scott stood at last and spoke stiffly, but politely. "If that was everything you had to tell us, I'll let the others know the score when they get back." He turned towards the door and, after a non-verbal eye to eye conversation between the adults of the school, he wasn't stopped as he left.
Silence fell again, Jean waited a few more seconds before she too made her way out.
"We promised them they would never be kept in the dark again." Ororo sounded almost regretful once the door was once more closed, wanting justification for putting such a burden as the possible future on children.
"Don't make it right."
"Logan, we discussed this." Xavier's voice cut across almost sharply.
"I'm not saying they shouldn't get told Chuck, I'm just saying it ain't fair. Not for anyone. Why won't you let me just introduce those F.O.H. morons to what can happen if they don't stop lookin'?"
And then Wolverine too was gone, leaving only two to watch the increasingly thickening snow fall, quietly sharing Logan's frustration.
Finally Xavier turned to look up at Ororo, speaking in a milder tone of voice.
"I think perhaps there is such a thing as taking the ideal of a white Christmas a touch too far."
She smiled at the gentle reminder and harnessed her emotions; allowing the snow to turn away from the threatening arctic nature it had taken and return to the kinder, seasonal, drift.
"This one! This one is totally you." Kitty held out the dress to Rogue, who looked at it appraisingly for all of half a second before turning to rifle through the black selection.
"It's pink and ... were those butterflies?? Ah want tuh shut his mouth, not his eyes."
Kitty sighed and returned to looking through the clothing rails. They had managed to gather their gifts in record time, but since then had left five stores empty handed and they had to be at the food court to meet the other two in half an hour. At this rate Rogue would just have to shock Remy, and pretty much everyone else, by wearing her birthday suit. And then she saw it. With a crow of triumph, Kitty hauled her prize out, spinning to show the other girl.
"This one!"
"Ah don't ..." Rogue did a double take on the dress. It wasn't trashy, but it didn't belong in a convent either. Stylish and, she reached forward to check the sale tag, affordable. Perfect. "It's mine."
Out of the corner of her eye she saw two familiar figures stroll past on the walk outside, and ducked down, dragging her shopping buddy with her, the other giving a slightly startled squawk before hissing urgently.
"Trouble?"
"Remy and Kurt, they can't see us in here! They can't have a clue!"
Trying to ignore the strange looks from the assistants, Kitty sighed and stayed down, idly watching the shoes of those going by while Rogue peeked out to see whether the guys had moved on. One gaggle of shoes stopped before her, looking both familiar and designer. With a resigned dread and a bright smile, she looked up to see Serendipity Baker and minions smirking down.
"Uhm, hi!"
"What are you doing down there? Looking for a rock to crawl under?"
The clique giggled, Kitty felt her face flush, Rogue looked up and shrugged as she stood, replying with quiet distain.
"Yeah, couldn't find none that didn't have your name on though."
Serendipity's smirk became a scowl, and then a smile that held no ounce of friendly intent in it at all. But she ignored Rogue, speaking with a honey thick tone to Kitty instead.
"You know, if you ever want to have any friends at all, you really should stop being seen with that kind of person."
And then the seniors moved on, leaving the store with the air of ones who wouldn't deign to be seen in it. Kitty tried not to blush with a cross between anger and humiliation as she followed Rogue to pay.
"How can you take that, aren't you mad?"
"Should ah be? They ain't my friends, ah don't want them tuh be. So what they think doesn't matter."
"But what Remy thinks about the dress matters?"
"Well, some, but mostly what I think about what Remy thinks about the dress matters." Rogue nodded, took her bag and added it to others she was starting to feel distinctly weighed down by. "C'mon, we got time to pick up some food. Ah'm ready to eat a rock, let alone live under one."
Kitty grinned, regaining her good humour as they made their way through the crowds. "Probably better for you than the burgers."
"So, we ruled out poisonin', deat' traps an' missin' school books. What else can dey be plannin'?"
Kurt was about to reply to the only half jesting question when he spotted the objects of their fear walking towards them, swinging their bags to aid their progress through the masses.
"Here they come! Oh man, they're ... smiling. Act natural."
Both men leaned nonchalantly back on the plastic chairs, Remy stealing one of Kurt's fries and receiving a tap on the hand for his trouble.
"Not that natural! Verdammter thief ..."
The bags were haphazardly strewn around the table as the girls flung themselves into their seats, obviously pleased with themselves. Remy had to grin. It was nice to see that, despite occasionally having to rush off and save the world, the two girls remained true to their age in their ability to shop anyone under the table. Kitty's sudden pensive frown caught him off guard though.
"What's th' matter petite?"
"Where are your bags. Didn't you do any shopping at all?"
"Mais non, we tried but you an' Rogue bought everyt'in' b'fore we could get dere."
To stave off the incoming squabbling, Kurt reached down and retrieved his own two small bags, holding them up in proof.
"I shopped! See!"
"Two bags?" Both girls spoke at once, injecting a note of horror into their tones.
"What?"
"Yuh can't have everyone's presents in there. What have yuh bought, book tokens?"
"And you!" Kitty rounded on Remy, doing everything short of shaking a finger at him. "Where are your bags?"
He blinked. They expected him to give gifts? They were giving him gifts? Somehow, he'd completely managed to take himself from the celebration equation altogether, vaguely thinking he'd be spending it down at Harry's Bar. He searched desperately around for an answer, and found one he wasn't looking for at all.
A small gathering was forming in the central court, holding placards, giving out stickers and leaflets. Their regalia proclaimed them to be FOH, Friends Of Humanity. Shame, they were a 'Dolts' away from being Simpsons extras.
"I t'ink it's time fo' us t' go."
The others followed his gaze and silently gathered their purchases together, the mood falling in an instant.
In the midst of the rally, Abigail watched them leave.
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Notes
Uhm .. so it's been a while. Sorry, if anyone has been waiting for this.