A/N: TricaLee says: Hurt you? Now why on earth should we hurt you. Some of the best chapters are the short ones. Sounds good, but hey, whens the fun, excitement the conflict! Never mind me, it's just my birthday and I'm all hyped up.
Happy Birthday!! I think things will start to pick up in this chapter so… yeah. Thanks for the review!
Thanks again to Bant for yet another review. Here it is, the next chappie.
Magneto paced in front of this henchmen as they prepared. "Today," he said, "is the day. We'll be going into battle with the X-men and taking one of them as our own. Don't forget that I want him alive and unhurt." Sabretooth winced at the words. "As for the others do what you will."
"I still don't get how he's going to help our cause," said Pyro as he played with his lighter.
Magneto sighed. He had explained this over and over to the youth. "Just get him and bring him back here. I'll explain everything later. Now let's go"
The mutants all climbed into the helicopter, Toad taking the cockpit. The blades began to pick up speed and the small aircraft took to the skies. It was going to be a long ride.
The gray predawn light washed over the grounds of the mansion and seeped into the bedroom. There was a slight snore which barely covered the sound of purring. Kurt lay on his back with an arm around Charlie. She was using Kurt's shoulder as a pillow and had one of her own armsdraped across him.
A smile played across Charlie's lips when Kurt's scent filled her keen nose. She looked at the flashing red figures on her alarm clock to find that it was five twenty-seven AM. In just a few hours she would be teaching her first class.
With a sigh she got out of the bed, being careful not to wake Kurt or the snoozing cat. Captain grumbled and rolled over on his pillow while the blue mutant remain unperturbed.
After a quick shower Charlie got dressed in the bathroom. She had a sneaking suspicion that Kurt might react badly if he awoke to a woman changing in front of him. With her jeans and t-shirt on, she stepped out of the bathroom to find both the cat and mutant sound asleep.
Smiling, Charlie leaned down and gave Kurt a light kiss on the forehead. She reached over and gently scratched behindCaptain's ear. Neither of them awoke and she turned back to the door.
"Vhere are you going," a groggy, heavily accented voice asked her.
"I'm going down to breakfast." She turned to Kurt. "I thought I'd let you sleep."
"Nein," he said as he sat up. "I vill meet you down zere az zoon as I am dressed."
"I suppose I'll get up too." Captain stretched as he spoke. "No point in letting a good feeding opportunity go to waste."
The three of them exited the room, Captain sauntering down the hall to the kitchen. Kurt looked to Charlie as she closedher door. His yellow eyes took in her pointy ears, tail, cat eyes, claws, and black stripes. He smiled.
"Guten morgen," he whispered as he leaned closer to her.
"Good morning." Charlie smiled and placed a hand over his mouth, kissing it. "Go brush your teeth Mr. Morning breath," she said kissing her hand again and feeling Kurt grin.
The morning paper was sprawled in front of Charlie as she sipped her coffee and read the funnies. Her eyes skimmed the pages.
A cloud of smoke appeared, accompanied by a bamf! as Kurt teleported into the room. His yellow eyes found Charlie and he smiled at her.
"Iz mein breath gut?" He sat down next to her.
Charlie grinned and said, "I think so."
"Gut," Kurt said as he leaned in and kissed her. Charlie returned it, deepening it slightly. Her clawed hands rested on his shoulders while his three fingers slid down her back and pulled her a little closer. Her senses dulled as every fiber of her being was concentrated on Kurt's kiss.
"Cover you eyes, kids," a gruff voice said from behind them.
Kurt and Charlie quickly pulled apart to see Logan walking into the kitchen followed closely by Rogue, Kitty, and Bobby. The three students were snickering as they made breakfast.
"I didn't see any neon signs," Rogue joked as she sat down with a cup of coffee.
Charlie grinned, showing her fangs. "We figured we'd tell Kitty and she can spread the word for us."
Kitty stuck out her tongue as she and Bobby joined them at the table. "How long have you been official."
"Since yesterday," Kurt said simply as he read the funnies over Charlie's shoulder.
"About five minutes after you asked, to be exact," added Charlie.
Bobby looked up from his bowl of cereal. "I noticed you two weren't sprawled out on the couch this morning."
"They were probably sprawled out on Kurt's bed," teased Rogue.
Charlie and Kurt both grinned. "Actually," Charlie said. "We were sprawled out on my bed." They were all shocked. "Well," Charlie got up. "Time for class."
A pair of yellow eyes looked up at her sadly. "Do really have to go now," asked Kurt.
"Yeah," said Charlie nodding. "I'll see you later though."
After a quick kiss, Charlie headed off to her classroom. She arrived aboutfive minutes late to find that all of her students were there and waiting. They each looked at her expectantly.
"Uh… hi," she nervously saidas she sat down. "I'm Charlie, you're teacher."
It took a few minutes but the felinoid relaxed. She gave the students a tour of the dark room and went over the rules. Charlie even gave them a very rough explanation of what their assignments would be.
"Okay," she said as she put a test strip in the fixer. "We have to wait three minutes before we can move to the water. Anyone have a good joke?"
No one got a chance to answer. Scott Summers poked his head into the room. "The Professor needs you in his office. Now," his voice was filled with urgency.
"Class dismissed." Charlie left the room quickly as the students filed out.
Her feet thudded slightly on the floor as she dashed down the halls to the Professor's office. Charlie skidded to a stop in front of the oak door. She raised a hand to knock but it was opened before she could. Charlie stepped inside.
Logan, Kurt, Ororo, and Scott stood in the little office. The Professor sat in his wheelchair behind his desk. For a moment all eyes turned to her before settling back on Professor Xavier.
"Cerebro found another mutant," he explained his voice calm. "He has just discovered his mutation and is very confused. If he isn't taken care of soon he could pose a threat to the public. Go out there and get him but be gentle." The Professor turned to Charlie. "This will be your first mission. Your suit is waiting for you."
After suiting up, the X-men led Charlie to the hangar where the Blackbird waited for them. The jet's black paint shined in the light of the room, making it look even more beautiful.
Charlie walked up the ramp and found a seat behind the cockpit. They were off in a matter of minutes, Scott and Ororo sitting at the control panel. The jet streaked through the sky, carrying them to their destination.
The Blackbird touched down, letting Kurt, Charlie, and Logan out before Scott and Ororo found a safe place to leave it.
"Let's find this kid and get it over with," grumbled Logan as he led Kurt and Charlie into the city.
They reached a crumbling brick building. The windows were boarded up and bits of the wall seemed to deteriorate before their eyes. As they stood gazing up at the condemned structure, Ororo and Scott joined them.
"Let's go," Scot said as he moved forward.
The X-men entered the building via the front door, Logan had taken pleasure in making the entrance usable. The inside was just as bad as the exterior. Charlie had no problem seeing in the dark rooms. Everything, she noticed, lay in shambles and the floor looked like it would give way at any moment.
"Upstairs," Logan grunted as he looked to the ceiling.
"Tiger," Scott called and Charlie looked up. "Can you see the stairs?"
Her green eyes landed on the stairs in the far corner of the darkened room. "Over there. Want me to lead the way?"
Scott nodded and Charlie began to pick her way through the debris, Scott and Logan silently battling over who should go next, Kurt and Ororo taking the rear. They made their way up the creaking stairs, relying on Charlie's night vision.
"That way." Logan pointed to a door when they had all safely reached the top of the stairs.
Again Charlie led them, her green cat eyes taking in every inch of the abandoned building. Cautiously she stepped in the room, followed closely by her fellow X-men. This particular room was darker than most of the others.
"There's no one here," Charlie said as she scanned the room for signs of life, the green of her eyes hidden almost completely by her dilated pupils.
The companions all spread out around the slightly cluttered room and began to look under debris for any sign of a person. There wasn't a thing to indicate a living being had ever even set eyes upon the room.
"Something's not right," murmured Charlie as she joined Kurt.
"How do you know?" Kurt's yellow eyes turned to her.
Charlie glanced about the room anxiously. "Intuition. Besides I doubt that the Professor is ever wrong."
"Don't vorry," Kurt said as he took her hand. "I am sure it vill be OK." His own voice sounded doubtful.
It was at that moment Logan caught a scent. "We have company," he shouted, unsheathing his claws.
Charlie looked up as the door snapped shut. Five mutants barred the door . One was green and resembled a toad, another was a felinoid who looked like he could bench press a jeep. The other three men looked pretty normal, two were younger and the older man wore a red and black cloak and helmet.
"The Brotherhood," Logan growled.
Scott regarded them coldly. "We should have known you would be coming." He paused as he looked over the two youngest members. "I didn't know you were recruiting kids, Magneto."
The older man with helmet smiled slightly. "Well as you know, Pyro chose us over you. As for Magmas, here," Magneto gestured to a young man with fiery hair. "He joined us just today. Now, if you don't mind, we'll be taking your blue friend."
Involuntarily Charlie stiffened. As she placed herself between Kurt and the Brother hood she said, "You'll have to fight for him." Her eyes glinted as she glared at each member of the Brotherhood. The felinoid, she noticed, was staring at her with his empty black eyes.
"Ah, You must be the latest addition to the X-men." Magneto looked her up and down though he couldn't see her very well in the dark. "Such a shame Charles got to you before us. Well, we have places to go, things to do, and people to kill." Magneto's icy blue eyes flashed as he gave the order. "Get the Nightcrawler."
In a matter of seconds the two groups threw themselves at each other. Logan and Sabretooth swung at each other while Ororo and Toad fought. The two youngest members of the Brotherhood had ganged up on Scott, Magneto stood by the door, his arms crossed, while the fighting went on.
"Tiger," Scott called just before he went into battle. "Don't let them take Kurt!"
Charlie stood in front of Kurt, ready for action. The blue mutant tried to step in front of her and aid his friends but Charliepulled him back. "Kurt, please." Her eyes begged him.
"But zey are in trouble." He tried to move forward again but Charlie held fast. "Zey need our help!" His yellow eyes searched Charlie's. After a minute he finally gave in with a sigh.
Charlie grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the way of Logan whose body crashed into a wall. Sabretooth advanced on the injured but recovering Wolverine. Toad spat some of his pond scum at Ororo who was now pinned to the wall and struggling. Pyro and Magmas had easily subdued Scott. Pyro distracted him while Magmas used his magma tomelt the floor out from under him.
All five members turned to face Charlie and Kurt. Charlie felt cornered but didn't let it show. She quickly assessed the situation. Okay we're out-numbered five to two and we have three men down. I need to get Kurt out of here but I can't leave the others… This blows.
"Let us take him peacefully," Magneto's voice boomed. "And we'll spare you life."
Charlie's eyes narrowed. "It's not my life I'm worried about."
Magneto raised an eyebrow. "Don't worry about your friends. They'll live… I think." Charlie just glared at him and her tail twitched. "My dear child, I can guarantee that I will not harm Nightcrawler."
"I wish I could say the same for you," she spat. Her green eyes caught smirks from a few of the terrorists while Magneto glared at her.
"My, aren't we feisty. Are you sure you don't want to let us take him quietly." Magneto only got a low growl as a response. "Very well. Magmas, why don't you handle this?"
The red haired boy stepped forward, grinning maliciously. He cracked his knuckles causing Charlie to roll her eyes as she moved to step towards him. She stopped when she felt a hand on her shoulder.
Kurt's eyes bore into her own. "Charlie…"
She stepped back to Kurt and uttered to him, "Don't worry."
Magmas and Charlie faced off in the center of the room. He was smirking at her the whole time while she just stared at him blankly.With a loud battle cry, the boy charged at her. Charlie stepped to the side and stuck her foot out, Magmas hit the floor with a loud thud.
His fellow terrorists were utterly embarrassed. "Get up," said Magneto, not looking at the boy. "I don't have time for this."
There was a loud creaking as a metal pipe tore itself from the crumbling wall, a crack ran up the wall and onto the already sagging ceiling. The pipe flew towards Charlie who ducked, narrowly avoiding having her head taken off.
As she got up and readied herself for a second attack, a hunk of the ceiling collapsed. She looked up to see it coming but Charlie didn't have time to dive out of the way, instead she crouched down on the floor and covered her head with her arms.
There was a bamf! and the smell of sulfur. Soon everything whirled wildly and Charlie felt like she was going to toss her cookies. Her stomach gave the anticipated lurch and she opened her eyes. Kurt was holding her close, the smell of fear strong enough to knock someone out.
Forgetting about the Brotherhood for a moment Kurt hugged Charlie tightly. "Are you alright," he asked, concern and fear filling his voice. Charlie could only manage a nod.
Magneto observed this little show with a smile. Now he knew how he could get to Kurt. Oh, how he loved coercion.
The young mutant gently pushed Kurt away and turned back the Brotherhood. "A fighter, I see," said Magneto ass he watched her. "I like that."
Charlie didn't have time to respond. Out of nowhere something blunt cracked down on the back of her skull. She didn't scream, Charlie wasn't the type, but she did cry out. The last thing she remembered before passing out was excruciating pain. Her last conscious thought was Oh, God! They're going to take Kurt!
I hope that was action packed and exciting enough. If not, there is more to come!