Disclaimer: One day, I'm going to stand on the top of the Empire State Building with a printed copy of this fanfiction and just throw it down to the streets below, and everybody will be like, "Holy crap, none of this is copyrighted to her!"
Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews! Woot!
The Base Line – Chapter 2: After School Special"Kurt, like, cut it out!" Kitty whined, rubbing her left shoulder gingerly. For some reason, sitting still in the car was a skill that continued to elude Kurt even after a month and a half of practice. "You're going to totally make Scott crash."
"Thanks, Kitty…" Scott murmured from behind the wheel of his baby, reaching up with his right hand to adjust the quartz glasses that he always wore.
Rolling his eyes, Kurt leaned back against the seat, crossing his arms and pouting slightly. "Oh, come on, Kitty. A little goofing around never hurt anybody. Besides, it's Friday, and the Professor is gone." The last few words held a squealing glee usually reserved for giddy schoolgirls. Though apparently, Kurt had dipped into the glee-bank stores for just this occasion.
Turning around from her perpetually reserved shotgun seat, Jean gave Kurt a stern glance reminiscent of a frustrated mother trying to rein control over her son's wily best friend. "Not for long, Kurt. He's just investigating the new mutant signature he found with Cerebro."
Arching a brow, Rogue looked up from her corner seat, side hard-pressed against the car in an attempt to squirm away from her squealing roommate. The Institute's resident Goth half-wished that he had taken Jean along with him on that venture, since she was rather craving a Jean-free afternoon.
"Like, why would he do that?" Kitty asked flippantly, waving one of her hands while rolling her eyes. "I mean, I know the Professor is all about mutant unity, but, it's totally impossible to get any privacy now. Does he really think he can cram the mansion full of mutants? I'll, like, totally go crazy." As if hearing an answer that offended her, she offered a childish pout before falling back against her seat, looking mournfully down at her sandals.
Sighing patiently, Jean glanced from Kurt to Kitty, trying to gently talk sense into the frustrated brunette. "Kitty, what would you have done if the Professor had thought the same thing when you were having your problems?" Ever the diplomat, she continued. "Maybe this new mutant needs our help just as much as you did."
Sniffing haughtily, Kitty looked up at Jean, trying to reply with some semblance of territorial cattiness, but found that it was rather impossible to do so. Instead, she nodded meekly, uncrossing her arms and sitting more normally, refraining from a verbal response.
Once that was settled, Jean turned back to sit in her seat the way the cops would want to see her sitting, looking straight ahead with a vague tiredness in her face. Scott considered saying something to her (she could tell, since she had 'accidentally' skimmed over the surface of his mind) but decided against it, appreciative of the silence that had fallen over the car full of teenagers.
The rest of the ride was deceptively smooth, with only a small crack from Kurt that was quickly silenced by an annoyed elbow in his side from Kitty. For a short while, Scott had worried that the three mutants in the back seat had died mysteriously. Well, at least Kurt and Kitty. Rogue rarely made much noise unless goaded by one of the two. It was both comforting an unnerving at the same time, as he still retained a bit of guilt over what had happened with the poor southern girl during the first month of school.
Before too long, the red sports car pulled into the mansion's long driveway, zipping into one of the outside parking spots with a cheery air. The passengers were getting ready to stand up even before Scott had turned off the engine, and by the time he closed his door, the back seat was completely empty.
Once standing outside, Kurt hopped up and down, pumping a fist in the air. "Come on, guys! Logan and Storm probably went with the Professor, right?"
"Not a chance, bub." The husky voice caused the general morale of the five-person group to drop significantly. Not that the teenagers didn't respect the resident Teacher of Hard Knocks, but he really could get overbearing and frustrating after a while, and a Friday afternoon was not the best time to run into him. "Where's porcupine?" Logan, or Wolverine as he was often called, trotted down the front steps of the mansion with his hands thrust into his jeans' pockets, chin tucked in just slightly so that the brim of his hat could block out the glaring sun above.
Since Kurt was the one who generally knew Storm's wayward nephew best, (besides Storm herself, of course) the others expected him to answer Logan's potentially loaded question. "He told us not to wait up for him after school. I assume he's skateboarding home?"
With a low grunt, Logan looked down to his side, his hat casting a dark shadow over his profile. Instead of speaking to the X-Men, he spoke instead to the grass, mulling over torture plans for Evan. "He'll be able to catch an extra training session with the new kid Chuck's bringing in…" He murmured, setting up the course in his head. After a moment of stagnant silence, he looked over to the X-Men, who were looking rather terrified at the moment. Letting out a low 'tch,' Logan reached up to lift the brim of his overbearing cowboy hat to get a better look at the kids. "Chuck left me in charge of you guys until he returns. So." He smirked, the feral smile reaching up to wrinkle his nose. "Let's move. I have a full schedule that I want to complete by the time he returns with your new friend." Of course, Logan probably just wanted to torture this new person as well.
Feeling a strange pang of compassion for this poor new person, whoever it was, Kitty sighed in defeat and looked up at Jean before dropping her backpack from her shoulders, leaving it on the asphalt. As always, Storm would come by later and clean up for them. It was one of those unspoken jobs that she had managed to get saddled with. Go figure.
Without another word, Logan turned his back on the teenagers and strode off around the back of the mansion, knowing that they would follow with no more verbal complaints. That's what he loved most about his power. They could whine all they wanted, but they would never really try and confront him about it. Not that Logan was a sadistic, power-hungry Napoleon or anything. No, never.