Title: Trial By Fire
Author: furygrrl
Archive: Just ask first
Rating: PG - R
Disclaimer: Not mine

Chapter Five

"Professor?"

"Yes, Cyclops, go ahead."

"We've finished sweeping the area."

"I take it that your search was uneventful?"

Charles Xavier, seated before a massive computer console, heard the frustrated sigh of his pupil filter through the headset he wore as his nimble fingers danced along the keyboard. Pausing to gently rub eyelids that fluttered closed with brief exhaustion, he let out a pained breath of his own. "Cyclops?"

"We found no trace of her, sir," the young man finally replied, his voice coming through the com-link crisp with irritation.

Xavier didn't bother to chide his student for his biting tone. He understood Scott's feelings all too well. They stemmed from the two sleepless nights that had passed, from the worry that was rapidly becoming an unsettling fear, and an increasingly fruitless search for the friend and teammate that had vanished without a trace three days ago.

As it was, he wished he could indulge in a moment of frustration-venting himself, hating having to bottle up the sensations of furious impotence that had been building within him since Jean's absence had been discovered, but he couldn't.

I have to remain calm...in control... his inner voice reminded, making him shake his head wearily.

"Sir?" Cyclops' tinny voice queried, still waiting for his mentor to issue orders.

Xavier opened his eyes to stare dully at the coloured grid map that took up the entire monitor's surface, looking to see which areas hadn't been checked yet. "Co-ordinates have been transmitted. Let me know what you find," he finally said, fingers once again moving across the keys.

"Copy that, sir," Scott answered, a short burst of static following the sound of his voice, and then...blessed silence.

The telepath took the opportunity to remove the headset, tossing the device onto the computer console with a quiet clatter, his figure slumping tiredly into his wheelchair. He reached for the mug of coffee that sat on a worktable to his left, face twisting with distaste as the cold, stale liquid made contact with the interior of his mouth.

Didn't I just pour this?

Exhaling dejectedly, he returned the mug to its place with shaking hands, slopping some of the cream-laden fluid over the porcelain rim and down the curve of his wrist. He absently wiped his dripping hand across the front of his rumpled shirt, not particularly caring that those few droplets of coffee were staining the expensive material, too caught up in thoughts of what to do next.

I wonder how much longer I can keep going without sleep... he mused distractedly, rubbing again at eyes that prickled with fatigue, his entire body shuddering longingly at the fleeting thought of the comfortable bed several floors above him.

It'll be quiet for the next hour or so...maybe I could...

"Chuck?" Logan's crackling voice suddenly sounded from the discarded com-link.

Replacing the ear clip and adjusting the tiny receiver in front of his mouth, Xavier waited for the other man to continue.

"I just finished checking out the Sentinel base...or what was left of it."

"It was destroyed then?"

"Yeah, you were right – whatever you an' Cerebro picked up on last night definitely hit this place hard an' fast."

"Details, Logan – what exactly did you find?" Xavier demanded, fingers gripping the arms of his chair, fighting to keep impatience from colouring his tone.

"The whole thing was razed...burned t' the ground as far as I can tell. I couldn't get in for a close look, though – the entire area was swarming with uniforms obviously on clean-up detail."

"Did you see any sign of Sentinels? Or that there had been a battle?"

"Aside from the building itself, nothing was torn up – not even the meadow, so I don't think there was much of a fight. As for the Sentinels, if the fleet of trucks carting away big hunks of giant melted body parts was any indication, I'd say we won't have to worry about 'em coming from this direction any time soon."

Xavier's thudding heart slowed slightly in response to Logan's report – still completely mystified by what might have taken place at the secret government base the night before, but relieved in knowing that at least one threat had been neutralized in the process. "Good work, Logan," he murmured. "You can head back to the Institute if you're finished there."

His words met silence.

"Logan?" Xavier repeated, finger tapping curiously against the cord that connected the link to the console.

"I heard ya, Chuck," the other man's disgruntled voice finally sounded, causing Xavier to nod to himself in sudden understanding.

"Ah," the telepath sighed. "You wish to rejoin the others, I take it?"

"Like you even have t' ask?" Logan muttered in response.

Xavier knew that it would be futile to argue with him, but he tried anyway, concerned for his friend's state of mind of late. "Logan, you've been on the road for days. I feel it would be best for you to return and -"

"Don't try to sway me, Charles," Logan interrupted, suddenly angry. "I know what needs to be done, and besides," his voice softened slightly. "I'm not the only stubborn one refusing to let up on this, now am I?"

Xavier didn't bother to hide the bitter amusement that swelled up at the other's comment, knowing full well that Logan was referring to him. He chuckled a little, though it seemed to take effort to do even that. "Very well. Since you're in the area, why don't you cover that block of territory and check in with me when you're done?"

The connection went dead. Logan, obviously in some haste, didn't seem predisposed to offer any parting words.

Xavier removed the headset once again, hoping that the other man's hell bent desire to find the missing member of their flock would result in something they could use to their advantage, and not just see him passed out from exhaustion in some ditch in the middle of nowhere.

Upon that thought, the Professor realized that he should take his own advice to heart and get some much needed sleep, even if it was only for a few hours. He began to make his way towards the elevator that would take him back up into to main levels of the mansion, his mind musing over the components of Logan's report as he did so.

The one thing that didn't make sense – the one piece of information that he hadn't revealed to anyone yet – was clashing with the new data he'd just received.

The Sentinel base...demolished.

The Sentinels themselves...destroyed.

No sign of an adversary, of a pitched battle, of some outside military involvement...

Surrounded by the metallic walls of the lift, he stifled a yawn and pressed the button for the upper floor, sure that the confusion he was experiencing was due to the hazy muddle his brain had become from lack of rest.

Cerebro detected a mutant signature in the base's vicinity...

The doors slid shut and the elevator began to rise.

A signature that couldn't be logged, couldn't be dissected or traced to any known mutant...

He shook his head as he rolled out of the closet-sized conveyance, the silent oppressiveness of the empty house weighing on him like something heavy.

Except for one, if only slightly...

Inside his room, he started to remove his stained shirt clumsily, eyes narrowing in thought.

But it couldn't have been her. Whatever Cerebro had picked up had been too different, too powerful - far too alien - to have been Jean...

He shook his head, pushing away the notion that his lost surrogate daughter had any hand in the Albany base's destruction, instead letting himself sink into the comfort of his cool sheets, cheek resting against the smoothness of his pillow gratefully.

But if she hadn't been involved, then who – or what – had been?

The unsettling possibilities that accompanied such a question would normally have kept sleep at bay, but in his drained state, Xavier let the many different problems drift away as his consciousness sunk into the folds of a dreamless slumber.