ALPHA/OMEGA

Book Two

FIVE

The days passed, and classes began again. Even as life at the Institute settled into a routine, the Professor began to receive disturbing reports from around the world. There had been riots, violence targeting mutants. Worse, there had been acts of retribution against normal people for the riots, and a number of outspoken public figures who favored mutant registration or worse had received death threats. Professor Xavier was concerned that Magneto might be undertaking a propaganda campaign, preaching his 'war' views to mutants around the world. Storm and Carl spent hours tracking down information, much to Scott's dismay. Daily, it seemed, he complained about the level of trust the Professor gave to Carl. He complained about Carl's security clearance, Carl's improvements to the X-Jet, the space he was allotted for a lab in the compound. Finally, Xavier took Scott aside and gave him a good talking to. Now, the team leader kept a very formal and coldly civil distance from Carl.

Logan could see that it tore at Carl every time Scott made some new veiled insult. "Man, why do you let him get away with it?" he asked Carl once.

"Because he's hurting. If insulting me makes it hurt less, why do I care?"

Logan shook his head in disbelief at the other man's forgiving attitude. "You're like, a priest or something."

Carl smiled a strange little smirk. "More like a friar."

"Right! You're a friar, not a monk." Logan laughed and walked away. He didn't know where the comparison came from, but it apparently startled Carl, who jumped and stared after Logan. Logan's problem was that the more he hung around Carl, the more he said strange things like that. And the dreams were getting vivid. Sometimes, they'd even get erotic, before his errant brain would snatch those pleasant images away and dump him back into the caverns with the monsters and the dying partner.

Then one morning, he woke up from the same disturbing dreams with two realizations. The partner was a man. And the partner was the lover.

Preoccupied all day with these revelations, he went through the motions of a day. Finally, he went to see the Professor. Just as he raised his hand, the door opened.

"Ah, Logan! I was just about to send Kurt here looking for you. We have a situation." Professor Xavier rolled past Logan and led the way to the elevator. "It seems that a Pure Human rally was disrupted by a series of explosions."

"Explosions?"

"Of a most peculiar type. No one saw any devices, yet fireballs leaped into the air, igniting a number of placards, posters, banners, and several nearby trees."

Logan cursed. "Pyro!"

The professor nodded solemnly. They entered the situation room, where Scott, Storm, and Carl were waiting. "I'm going to use Cerebro to see if I can't locate John. Scott, you, Storm, and Logan go to the scene of the rally and see what you can find out. Kurt and Carl will stay here to assist me and keep an eye on our students."

Everyone nodded and headed off for their assignments. Carl paused, having noticed that Logan was staring at him oddly.

"Logan? You OK?"

"Yeah." Logan scowled. "You'd tell me, right, if you have a vision about me?"

Carl smiled faintly. "Just be careful out there." He left the room.

"Is there a problem?" Storm asked quietly.

"No! No, no problem at all," Logan said, turning a charming smile on the lovely woman.

Storm was unconvinced. But instead of pressing Logan, she walked with him, nonchalantly chatting. "You know, I did find out part of what Scott doesn't like about Carl."

"Really?" Logan hoped she'd pass on the gossip.

"Apparently, Carl is convinced he can find his lover from his past life."

"So? Sure, it sounds stupid, but it's his life."

Storm glanced up at Logan. "Carl apparently told Scott that lover was male."

Logan stopped, causing Storm to turn. "He's gay?"

"So it seems."

Logan thought about it for a moment. Maybe a few years ago, even a few months ago, he'd have immediately decided to hate Carl after hearing that, but he did like the guy, and after last night's round of dreams, he couldn't cast stones. Boy, he really wanted to talk to the Professor about that. "Seems kinda lame, doesn't it? A Mutant being a homo-phobe?"

Storm grinned, pleased with Logan's reaction. "Doesn't it?"

----------

They could get no useful information about the rally. No one was injured much. No one claimed responsibility, but the damage had all the hallmarks of Pyro's doing. Bobby and Rogue were going to be upset, Logan thought as the team returned to the mansion.

The Professor immediately brought them together again. "I was able to tentatively track John down," he announced.

"Tentatively?" Scott prompted.

"Yes. There appears to be a gathering of mutants in the mountains not far from Las Vegas. I even caught a glimpse of Mystique."

Logan growled. "Where there's one--"

"There's Magneto." Storm finished.

Xavier nodded. "They all seemed concentrated in one area, but at times I could lose any sight of them. And several of them felt - odd. Not what mutants normally feel like to me."

Carl jumped up and started pacing. "You say there were several mutants? And when you lost sight of them, were they moving in any particular way?"

The Professor thought a moment. "It was almost as if they'd left the room."

"This Magneto, you can't track him directly, can you?"

Professor Xavier shook his head. "I suppose I should look in on Eric at random times, rather than stalling until necessary, but I dislike 'keeping tabs' on him. I hoped that he'd see things our way after our last -- encounter. However, some time ago he developed a helmet which blocks my abilities."

Carl kept pacing, muttering to himself. Logan frowned and looked up to see Scott watching Carl and rolling his eyes a little.

"Well? Don't keep us waiting!" Scott said, sounding less annoyed than usual and more anticipating.

Carl finally snapped his fingers. "A stronghold!"

"A what?" Asked Kurt.

"A fortress, a bolt hole, a hideout. He's building a hideout, and he's using the same technology he used on his helmet to shield the place from you, Professor."

"From a stable base, he could set up communications, networks, a whole blanket of influence." Storm exclaimed, catching on to Carl's line of thought.

Professor Xavier nodded. "Well, then I think we should drop in on our friends."