CHASE

PART I

CHAPTER III

Logan stood beside the hospital bed, arms crossed, drifting in and out of a light sleep. He had moved very little since several days before, having his meals brought down to him. He felt guilty. He'd hurt so many people with his mutations, and this time it was because of his ignorance of the situation that he nearly killed an 16 year old girl. Charles had said nothing to him for the duration of the time, occasionally shooting him looks of contempt when he came to check on the bedridden mutant.

Ororo would come down to dress the wounds in her chest and assure Logan that it wasn't his fault. Kurt would wander in, cross dangling from his three blue fingers. He would whisper prayers and leave again. Scott didn't come to visit, apparently still shocked by Logan's blatant disregard for the mansion rules. That and the fact he had tried to kill a mere child.

'Oh Jesus, not you again' Lyra whispered huskily, her eyes opening a fraction to look at her surroundings.

The lab was cold and unfamiliar. Unnatural light shone brightly down onto the metallic surfaces that filled the room. The sheets smelt of antiseptic wash and the pillow slip scratched uncomfortably at the side of her face. Logan was roused from his sleep. He unfolded his arms and stepped towards her. 'Hey, kid, I -'

Logan began but Lyra began to wave her arms madly. 'Don't come any closer with those claws of yours' she hissed, her black eyes looking down at bandages beneath her nightgown. He stepped back again. 'I just wanted to say sorry, for the nearly killing you thing' He mumbled, wringing his hands

'Well you really did find my Achilles heal, stabbing me in the chest like that!'

Logan didn't say anything but traced the in-betweens of his knuckles with his index finger.

Lyra raised herself up onto her elbow and ran her left hand through her greasy black hair. 'You don't mind telling me how long I've been here?' She asked, her dark pupils look up at Logan.

'3 days' he said, a little unnerved by those piercing eyes, like little holes of darkness.

'Oh crap.' She jumped from the bed and winced. 'You really left a mark on me.' She murmured, rummaging through the bedside table.

After finding nothing satisfactory, she left the table and went to the trunk at the end of the bed. She grabbed a track suit from the bottom and headed toward the bathroom.

'Please sit back down, Miss De Cloyes.' The bald professor said, face stern, voice grave.

Lyra recognized the ever familiar feeling of someone entering her mind. 'I have no business here' she said, turning her head slightly so that she could see his face.

The professor frowned 'But you did, unfortunately for you, you had a meeting with Wolverines mutations.' He shot a dark look to the muscular man in the corner who had suddenly become very interested with his belt buckle.

'Well I'm done now so can I leave?' she hissed, turning back, raising herself to her full height, her slender frame was obvious underneath the tight hospital dress.

'Certainly not, now sit back down before you really harm yourself.'

Lyra through back her hair in frustration but obeyed the order, she was short of breath, even though she had only been standing for several moments. After sitting her self back on the hard mattress, Charles began again. 'Who sent you?'

Lyra blinked slowly, hoping to unnerve the old man but she did not prevail.

'Why do you ask questions to which you already know the answer?' she said quietly, playing with a lock of her hair.

Charles was hit with a dark feeling of Déjà vu. He had heard many-a-time those words come straight from Erik Lensher's mouth.
Why hadn't he expected Magneto to recruit more mutants than Mystique? He had known that he had strong connections with other "Human Haters" but was he recruiting this young?

Charles moved to Lyra's side. 'Why did he send you?' Charles whispered, clutching at the bed sheets and leaning toward her. He looked into her eyes and probed her mind

Tell me everything.

And that's when the words started to gush from her mouth

'He didn't,' she said, her eyes out of focus. 'He runs the Brotherhood, but it is divided into smaller groups. I belong to a newly formed one. Theirs four in all, but this squadron is different, the others, their just cronies, older mutants who hate humans, they don't do much. But our group, we are the chosen ones, we are the defence team. We are elite. Theirs 5 of us in all, we train with Phoenix on most evenings, and she teaches us during the day. You better watch your back, Xavier; there more of us than you think.'

Charles turned his eyes away from her, letting them drift over the room. He had let his mind slip. Jeans death had made him forget the problems at hand. The growing hatred toward mutants, the registration act, Magneto. He had forgotten the safety of his students; he had forgotten everything he used to believe in.

He couldn't believe how stupid he had been.

But Jean had been like a daughter to him, she was one of the first students to come under his tutelage. She was kind, considerate; she was everything that he would have wanted in his own daughter.

Several minutes passed in silence as Charles became more and more absorbed in his thoughts.

'Professor...' Logan began, becoming impatient, but once again, he was silence by Charles's hand. He hated that hand.

'I have to use Cerebro.' He murmured and wheeled himself to the door. 'I shall deal with you tomorrow.'