**************Growing Pains****************
Vargas Montique was a large man. Six feet, four inches, and 200 plus pounds, he had a Harvard degree and a boxing championship title to boot. Something he often laughed about were those two particular things not exactly coinciding well. He was anything but in a laughing mood at the moment.
He was sitting on his office couch desperately trying to keep his wife of 17 years calm. Laura had been crying hysterically for the past half hour. Ever since a rock with the words, 'Die Mutie Scum' had been hurled through the storage room window. Glass had sprayed the floor in there and the family had taken refuge in Montique's office, shutting and locking all the doors and windowpanes. A little while later, the power in the house had gone out... flashlights and floodlights from storage were placed here and there around the office to try and settle his family's nerves... not that it was working.
Shouts and threats from protestors and news reporters alike could still be heard, albeit muffled through the walls of the old Victorian house. At least Montique hoped they were muffled at least a little to his precious baby girl.
Leila had run under and behind her father's desk the second he had shut the office door. He could see her there, still under his desk, hands over her ear-muffed ears rocking back and forth, tearing brimming over her eyes.
Shaking...
He couldn't stand this anymore! His poor baby! He hoped Xavier would come through... help his daughter. She didn't deserve this. Didn't deserve to me a mutant...
~No! Stop thinking like that! She was one... she was a mutant... is a mutant... and she's still my little girl!~
It wasn't her who had been throwing rocks at the house, hadn't been a mutant who had made his wife cry. Hadn't been a mutant threatening to burn down his house or a mutant who had promised to take PICTURES of it! No. Those were HUMANS out there... what excuse did THEY have?
He wished Xavier's team would get here soon. Get his baby to safety. Laura let out another little sob. He held her close. "Shhh..." he comforted.
~God what do I do?~
All of his security team had abandoned him when they had learned of Leila's condition. In fact, EVERYONE had left... They had left him and his family to the mob outside... of protestors and cameramen... talking heads and picket signs... it made him sick.
Just two days ago, everything had been normal... two little days, and then the incident with Leila.
****************
She had been outside at the time, with the nanny. She had been playing and running around, all sweet blonde hair and bright green eyes, and suddenly she had fallen to the ground and hit her knees on the concrete. Leila was seven, and sort of the type to make a little fuss, but no sound came from the girl. The nanny stared, and Laura had run out asking, "Leila, baby, are you alright?" in a reasonable voice. That was when the girl had started crying, though it seemed from Vargas' viewpoint through the back patio screen, she was desperately trying NOT to do so. Stifling the cries, the child had whispered to her mother (Laura had later told him) to stop all of the noise.
No one had been saying a thing, but Laura had signaled everyone around her to be quiet all the same. Apparently, it had been too late.
Leila had held her hands to her ears as if the world was about to fall upon her head, she screamed, her head facing the ground, and falling to the earth, was unconscious. All thought the worst was over, but rumbles and crackles resounded from the ground all around Leila's body.
A tiny earthquake. It had been small, thank God for that, but...
****************
Vargas snapped back to attention because of a noise that didn't sound quite as muffled as the rest. A noise that seemed to be coming from within the house, yet outside of the office...
Vargas stole another glance at his daughter. Still under the desk... rocking. She was ok. Well alive... any little noise was torture to her now...
~Would she ever be OK again?~
With a last squeeze of the hand, and a reassuring kiss, Vargas stood up from the couch and away from his wife. Laura stared at him, then down at their daughter. Stifling a sob she brought her knees up to her chest and started breathing slowly.
Vargas Montique, having taken it out of the storage closet when this whole fiasco began, picked up a tranquilizer gun he had left over from his safari days, and slowly walked over to the large Mahogany office door... he silently counted to three... and opened it.
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Vargas Montique was a large man. Six feet, four inches, and 200 plus pounds, he had a Harvard degree and a boxing championship title to boot. Something he often laughed about were those two particular things not exactly coinciding well. He was anything but in a laughing mood at the moment.
He was sitting on his office couch desperately trying to keep his wife of 17 years calm. Laura had been crying hysterically for the past half hour. Ever since a rock with the words, 'Die Mutie Scum' had been hurled through the storage room window. Glass had sprayed the floor in there and the family had taken refuge in Montique's office, shutting and locking all the doors and windowpanes. A little while later, the power in the house had gone out... flashlights and floodlights from storage were placed here and there around the office to try and settle his family's nerves... not that it was working.
Shouts and threats from protestors and news reporters alike could still be heard, albeit muffled through the walls of the old Victorian house. At least Montique hoped they were muffled at least a little to his precious baby girl.
Leila had run under and behind her father's desk the second he had shut the office door. He could see her there, still under his desk, hands over her ear-muffed ears rocking back and forth, tearing brimming over her eyes.
Shaking...
He couldn't stand this anymore! His poor baby! He hoped Xavier would come through... help his daughter. She didn't deserve this. Didn't deserve to me a mutant...
~No! Stop thinking like that! She was one... she was a mutant... is a mutant... and she's still my little girl!~
It wasn't her who had been throwing rocks at the house, hadn't been a mutant who had made his wife cry. Hadn't been a mutant threatening to burn down his house or a mutant who had promised to take PICTURES of it! No. Those were HUMANS out there... what excuse did THEY have?
He wished Xavier's team would get here soon. Get his baby to safety. Laura let out another little sob. He held her close. "Shhh..." he comforted.
~God what do I do?~
All of his security team had abandoned him when they had learned of Leila's condition. In fact, EVERYONE had left... They had left him and his family to the mob outside... of protestors and cameramen... talking heads and picket signs... it made him sick.
Just two days ago, everything had been normal... two little days, and then the incident with Leila.
****************
She had been outside at the time, with the nanny. She had been playing and running around, all sweet blonde hair and bright green eyes, and suddenly she had fallen to the ground and hit her knees on the concrete. Leila was seven, and sort of the type to make a little fuss, but no sound came from the girl. The nanny stared, and Laura had run out asking, "Leila, baby, are you alright?" in a reasonable voice. That was when the girl had started crying, though it seemed from Vargas' viewpoint through the back patio screen, she was desperately trying NOT to do so. Stifling the cries, the child had whispered to her mother (Laura had later told him) to stop all of the noise.
No one had been saying a thing, but Laura had signaled everyone around her to be quiet all the same. Apparently, it had been too late.
Leila had held her hands to her ears as if the world was about to fall upon her head, she screamed, her head facing the ground, and falling to the earth, was unconscious. All thought the worst was over, but rumbles and crackles resounded from the ground all around Leila's body.
A tiny earthquake. It had been small, thank God for that, but...
****************
Vargas snapped back to attention because of a noise that didn't sound quite as muffled as the rest. A noise that seemed to be coming from within the house, yet outside of the office...
Vargas stole another glance at his daughter. Still under the desk... rocking. She was ok. Well alive... any little noise was torture to her now...
~Would she ever be OK again?~
With a last squeeze of the hand, and a reassuring kiss, Vargas stood up from the couch and away from his wife. Laura stared at him, then down at their daughter. Stifling a sob she brought her knees up to her chest and started breathing slowly.
Vargas Montique, having taken it out of the storage closet when this whole fiasco began, picked up a tranquilizer gun he had left over from his safari days, and slowly walked over to the large Mahogany office door... he silently counted to three... and opened it.
************************************************************************