Agent-G: yeah, it was going to be a shorty, I had this only planned as a preparation for the new story. But look at it this way: if I get that story started, you know what happends in my story, and you don't have to worry about tangling things up. wink
StArRy1233: thanks for the comment on my writing. Most of them are my own characters, lessee if I can name all my OC's: Marianne(Fantasy), Michael(Gun), C, Ben(Nova), Sarah(Gaia), Tank, Luka, Desiree, Sidney, Rick, Lisa, Kate, Liz. Vincent, Mary, Benny, Jack and Jill belong to Agent-G. Wow, lotsa OC's...
Vacation - At the mansion
Marianne looked up at the mansion with silent surprise. She had heard they had been adding buildings to it, but seeing the changed mansion was a whole different thing. So many new things, but also a lot of old things.
The van stopped and Marianne already saw her friends waiting for her.
"Hi guys!" Marianne cheered, noting the younger people who curiously poked their heads out of the top windows, "Students?"
"Ja," Kurt nodded, bammfing over to Marianne, "how vas your vacation?"
"O, it was great, we ran into an old friend, saw a lot of road and trees, had a fight with my dad, terrific," Marianne smiled broadly at him.
"Fahght with yer dad? 'Bout what?" Rogue asked her curiously.
"About my choice in marriage. Please, I don't want to talk about it again," Marianne said a bit stiffly, "I see there were made a lot of changes. I'd like to see everything, if that's allright. Perhaps we should consider putting up schools like this. But first, I need to talk with professor Xavier, in private."
Marianne's tone indicated that it was a serious matter, so no one stood in her way as she marched to Xavier's office, although she did recieve a few curious glances from students that just happened to be outside. As she raised her hand to knock, Xavier told her to come in, through the door.
"It's good to see you again, professor," Marianne smiled as she entered, "I must say I was quite surprised to see how much the Institute has changed. So many students nowadays."
Quietly she took her seat, opposing professor Xavier.
"But I have something serious to tell you," Marianne took a deep breath, it would be so much easier if Michael would be by her side, but he couldn't. Her mental shielding was strong enough to keep telepaths outside her mind, so she could hold the secrets. Michael could not.
"By the look on your face, it is very serious. Is Underground in trouble?" Xavier asked, worry in his tone.
"Very much so, I fear. Treachery among us, even. We don't know the details, don't have concrete evidence and the founders of Underground don't believe us. I was told to warn you, and only you, because the Instute might also be in danger. One of these days, you will recieve a phone-call from me. I will say three words: Sidney says hi. After that, I will disconnect. When that happends, you have less then a two hours to get everyone from the Institute to this location. It's and island of-coast, belonging to a good friend of mine. Everyone will be save there. Another friend of mine will help get everyone there. He's called Drifter and can transport people over great distances. Across America in five minutes, Rogue knows him," Marianne looked at her mentor, face void of everything, as if she herself couldn't believe she was telling him this.
"I will have the students send there..." Xavier started, only to be interrupted by Marianne.
"No, promise me that you, Storm and Hank go there too. Please. If Underground doesn't get through this, we need you. I know better then to ask you to have the others go there too," Marianne shook her head.
"And what will you do?"
"What I do best, patch things up, but let's hope that it will be far, far away. I also ask of you to only tell this to people who can keep strong telepaths out of their head and whom you trust completely. The founders of Underground believe I have become unstable and paranoid, if they find out by any way that I spoke to you about this, I will be put on permanent inactive duty," she had lowered her head while talking, but now again rasing it to look directly at Xavier.
"I understand," Xavier nodded, keeping his eyes on the young woman in front of him. He still remembered quite clearly how she had come to live with the X-Men as a teenager. She was lucky to have such a caring brother. Marianne had grown quite a bit mentally, he decided, she had become stronger and Xavier realised very well that her life with Underground had done this. If she had remained with the X-Men, she wouldn't nearly have become as strong as she was now.
"On that same subject, can I send Connor, Ezra, Jonathan and Samantha here? It would be better for them to be evacuated along with your students. The island is the safest place," Marianne looked at Xavier with a pleading face.
"Yes, ofcourse they can, I'll have two rooms ready for them. When will they be arriving?" Xavier nodded.
"As soon as I can, probably the day after Michael and I get home. So, how's the super-hero thing coming along?" Marianne suddenly switched topics, without as much as a word of warning.
"Very well," Xavier chuckled.
"You know, perhaps we should get uniforms too," Marianne pretended to think about it, "it seems to work for you guys pretty well."
"Uniforms? What uniforms? I always thought that the concept of uniforms was that everyone dressed alike. I doubt I have ever seen a more varied group of clothing then the X-Men," Xavier smiled.
"Yeah, but still, when they see, let's say, Rogue in her uniform, everyone knows she's with the X-Men, while when Underground goes out on a job, no one recognises us... Now, on second thought, that is good thing. Now, I promised, I think it was Kitty, to show me around. If I know Michael, he'll be down in the Danger Room right now. I think that he missed the trainingroom at the safehouse the most," she rose to her feet and left Xavier's office.
It didn't take her long to find Kitty, she was watching someone dismantling the Danger Room, by the sounds of it, Marianne winced, it was Michael against Logan.
"Who's winning? Michael or Logan?" she asked Kitty.
"I don't know, but I know the Danger Room is losing, big time," Kitty pointed out, "it'll make the students very happy."
"I can imagine," Marianne managed to hold her laughter back, "I still remember how much I hated those sessions. Everytime I had to train, I felt like this huge failure that was waisting mister Logan's time. I really was the worst one at fighting."
"And you always had such colourful complaints about training afterwards," Kitty giggled.
"I'm still pretty colourful," Marianne winked, "anyway, am I getting that tour? If you're too busy, I can go wonder around myself."
"No, I'll come with you," Kitty ambled after Marianne, quickly starting to chatter non-stop.
Marianne absently listened to the talking as she looked around, seeing the new students have fun on the grounds, a girl threatening to paste a boy against the ceiling unless he stopped doing 'that'. Marianne didn't know what 'that' was, but she could imagine that the boy had pulled a prank on the girl. It remembered her of Bobby.
How long did they have left? How long untill she was forced to say those three words? Sidney says hi.
Marianne shook her head slightly: it wasn't time to worry about that now.
"You'll be staying here the night, right?" Kitty suddenly asked her, "You're room is taken, though, three girls are sharing it. But we have a spare room on the teacher's floor."
"Yes, we'll be staying here, we're leaving again tomorrow. Sarah and Tank are in charge of the safehouse untill we're back."
"Ouch," Kitty winced, "will it be standing when you return?"
"I hope so, for them..." Marianne's tone made it clear that if it wouldn't, Tank and Sarah would be in a whole lot of trouble otherwise.
Later, during dinner, it became obvious that the demise of the Danger Room was a fact, even if it was just for the time being, as Michael got a standing ovation from most of the students when he walked into the dining hall.
"Some things never change," Marianne laughed at Michael's bewildered expression while he sat down at the table.
"Let's just hope there is no reason for it to change," Michael spoke softly, only for her to here as he joined her at the table, quickly mixing up in the conversation going on.