"What the hell happened back there?" Logan barked once he stormed into the Professor's office. He looked exhausted from where he was sat with Professor Wade, and both Storm and Scott were already stood propped up against the wall with their arms crossed. It had been all of an hour since the exam saga, and word of Ashley's mishaps had already spread at speed throughout the school.
"Logan, please don't shout. My head is hurting as it is. Ashley lost control so we had to sedate her - it's not difficult to comprehend," Professor Wade explained condescendingly with two fingers pressed against his temple. Logan quickly turned to him instead, causing Storm and Scott to wince in anticipation.
"Wait, let me get this straight. You sedated Ashley for showing her powers - which is what you literally asked her to do?" he clarified even louder. Professor X opened his mouth to rebut his accusation, but Wade was already way ahead of him.
"The exam is about keeping steady control! Control, Logan - and actually, that's what she didn't do, so she'd failed the thing before she'd even started. We all know that the girl is a wild one anyway," Professor Wade continued on carelessly, barely noticing the impact his words were having on the angry looking mutant in front of him.
"Watch it, Wade," Logan growled dangerously.
"So what're you saying, that she's still not allowed to come out on the field with us?" Scott scoffed, quickly changing the subject as his eyebrows furrowed together. "She took an entire year out of the team for this, not learning much and surrounded by bratty teenagers, just because YOU told her to. Now that's done, you stopped the examination and failed her anyway! The girl can't win!"
"Better to have her fail by force than to fail by disaster," Professor Wade drawled every word deliberately, as if he was bored of the conversation.
"I'm warning you Wade," Logan spat out dangerously, his beady eyes boring into his, "one more word-"
"I can't believe this," Storm muttered with her head buried in her hands.
"This is insane!" Scott groaned, throwing his own head back dramatically. That's when Storm noticed that Professor X hadn't said much - so she turned to him in the calmest way possible.
"You seem pretty quiet. What do you think?" she asked him gently.
"Him? Charles was the one who demanded they stop her! So clearly he's on my side?" Wade rolled his eyes expressively.
"YOU?" Logan was growing more agitated by the minute. He had taken such a liking to Ashley over the past few years, so now he couldn't comprehend how they could do this to her so shamelessly - particularly her own father.
"There was honestly no other option, Logan. Professor Wade is right - the destruction that Ashley is capable of causing is literally a danger to us all," Professor X explained quietly, unable to look anyone in the eye.
"We're all dangerous!" Logan yelped back. "Isn't that why we're here? Isn't that the entire point of being here?" Storm nodded in silent agreement.
"You know, when you practically told her those similar words yesterday it scared the living hell out of her," Scott informed Charles through gritted teeth. "How did you expect her to succeed today, if you, her own father, didn't have faith that she would the day before?"
"You told her she'd fail?" Storm's head shot up in Charles' direction as Logan dropped his shoulders in defeat, now stumped for words.
"Prof, has it ever occurred to you that maybe that's JUST how her mutation works? Has it ever occurred to you that maybe you just can't tame her? Isn't that all a part of the beauty?" Scott soldiered on. "And since when was 'taming' us a part of your ethos anyway?"
"Hate to say it but Laser Kid is right," Logan muttered bitterly. "Clearly I don't know what you know about her, nor do I care, but I sure as hell don't like it. It's not fair on her and you know it isn't."
"Would you rather she end up like Jean?" Charles ended up asking them all coldly, stunning them all to silence. Professor Wade raised a surprised eyebrow and smugly waited for someone to answer.
"Like Jean?" Logan eventually repeated those bold words, eyes going dark.
"Bit of a low blow, ya don't think?" Scott hissed before storming straight out of the office and slamming the door behind him, before the conversation became a little too intense.
…
As soon as Ashley woke up back in her bed, she knew that something terrible had happened. She winced at a sudden sharp pain in her body - the feeling similar to that of an electric current pulsating through her. Then it dawned on her, as her mind slowly refocused.
She had failed - again.
How embarrassing.
Her negative emotions were running wild and she couldn't take it - she had let everyone down once again. Now, rather than stay and face the accusatory glares from teachers, and resit an entirely new year with people that didn't let her fit in, she'd rather disappear. So, she leapt out of bed with the shame still hanging over her head, rammed a few clothes and other bits and pieces into a disused rucksack, tied her long copper coloured locks into a topknot and tiptoed out of her room as quietly and discreetly as possible. The halls were empty, so clearly the examinations were still going on. She was careful not to make a sound as she silently rushed down the hall, down what seemed like an endless amount of steps and straight out of those grand front double doors. She leapt down the stone steps and skidded her way into the giant school garage where all the cars and bikes were parked.
Without thinking twice about it, Ashley hopped onto Scott's bike, revved it up and sped away from absolutely everything she knew.
…
"Sir we have visuals on Target XB!" an agent shouted to Director Fury from across the comms room about an hour later. Coulson raised an eyebrow and wandered over to where he sat, not expecting for it to actually be her.
It wouldn't be the first false alarm they'd had.
Fury also rushed over to where the agent sat, as the surrounding agents looked at the screen in interest. He peered at the screen and folded his arms in wonder before leaning back.
"Well, would you look at that," Coulson murmured, shaking his head. "True to her mother's word…there she is."
"She actually left?" Fury gave a slightly amused chuckle. "I'd say 'right on time' - but isn't she out a little too early?"
"Depends on how long they sedated her for. Clearly her body fought it off because that's definitely her," Coulson shrugged, standing up straight as well.
"So…where is she going?" one of the other agents frowned curiously. The agent who had spotted Ashley just shook his head and shrugged.
"That's what's not so clear."
"Do you think she's gonna try and find her sister?" Coulson murmured over to Fury quietly. Fury paused for a second before nodding, suddenly convinced of it.
"Probably, but all that means is that we have to act fast before she becomes completely untraceable again. Time is of the essence. Keep tracking her movements, and Coulson - get Darmer on the phone. Tell her she's got family in town."
…
Once the exams were over, the students were free to do as they pleased for the rest of the day. Rogue took it upon herself to knock on Ashley's door to check on her, having heard about the catastrophe earlier on. She changed into her lounging clothes and grabbed a few snacks from her dorm kitchen with the intentions of going to cheer her friend up with junk food and a cosy night in.
Rogue knocked on Ashley's bedroom door and patiently waited for the regularly muttered 'come in'. But a few seconds went by and there wasn't so much as a rustle from inside, so she tried again. After waiting a further twenty or so seconds, she began to feel uneasy and decided to at least try the door handle, not expecting it to actually open.
But it did, so she peeked through the crack to see…nobody.
"No," Rogue hissed to herself as she swung the door open fully to reveal the empty room. Within a second, she'd fled the floor without wasting any time, skidded down the hallways, dodging students left, right and centre before arriving at the staffroom. She didn't even knock - she burst straight through. Sitting there around the kitchen island was Logan, cracking a beer open with his teeth. But the sudden noise of Rogue's entrance and heavy panting caused his head to snap up in wonder. "Logan," she breathed, "have you seen Ash?" Logan began to shake his head before swiftly realising what this meant.
"Wait, you mean you can't find her?"
"No! I just went to her room and she wasn't there," Rogue spluttered as the worry filled her eyes. "So y-you haven't seen her at all?"
"…I gotta go to the Professor," Logan grumbled, standing up and briskly leaving the room. Naturally, Rogue rushed after him. "Kid, stay there!" he frowned in irritation once he realised that she was still there.
"Logan, she's my best friend. I should know if something's going on," Rogue snapped as they ran. "I'm the one that noticed she'd gone in the first place!" Logan let out a grunt in response as they skidded outside the Professor's office. His door was already ajar so they stepped in, soon to be met with Professor X and the examiners, who were discussing the day's events.
"Professor! We need to talk, now!" Logan alerted him, rudely interrupting their discussion. The examiners turned to him with matching irritated frowns plastered on each of their faces.
"Logan, I'm in the middle of something," Professor X told him with gritted teeth. Rogue rolled her eyes and stepped further into the office with a wave of sudden authority.
"It's about Ashley, sir," she blurted out. Charles' face fell at the mention of her name. "She's…she's gone."
"Gone?" one of the examiners gasped, leaning forward. "Someone that dangerous and unpredictable is roaming New York?"
"We're all dangerous and unpredictable here bub, don't get it twisted," Logan snarled at the woman. He had no idea when the general attitude towards mutants had become so negative and, more importantly, why Professor X wasn't fighting for her harder.
It was like he had changed out of nowhere.
Meanwhile, the examiner had definitely picked up on the threat edging in Logan's tone and swiftly fell silent again.
"Marko, Lisa, Wilton - can we continue this another day? I'm sorry, I don't think right now is an appropriate time," Charles told the examiners apologetically, withholding the concern from his face. The examiners stood up hesitantly but nodded.
"Find her, Charles. The board won't like it if we're all responsible for a natural disaster because of one of your wayward students," Marko warned him as they all began to gather their belongings.
"That 'wayward student' you talk of is my daughter, and therefore I will deal with the issue as I deem necessary," Charles told him stonily, looking dead into his eyes. The other two examiners dipped their heads to the floor uncomfortably, unaware of such facts - but Marko kept his warning expression.
"Find her," he almost spat, before they all walked out together. Logan gave them a stiff, forced smile as they breezed past him, before slamming the office door shut once the last person left.
"What did you mean she's gone?" Charles rushed out as soon as the room was clear of the examiners.
"You tell us! Can't you just use Cerebro?" Logan suggested.
"Ashley perfected the art of shutting me out years ago," Charles muttered, shaking his head in defeat. She always found it invasive of him, and she worked harder on locking out her father than she did trying to control her powers. "She probably hasn't gone too far, maybe she's gone back into the forest-"
"Professor, her stuff is gone," Rogue piped up with worried eyes. She started to feel nervous at this point - something about the professor's disposition told her that this could be a little worse than she thought. He hardly ever looked bothered but today, there was pure panic plastered on his face.
Charles bit down on his jaw and swallowed. The situation seemed to be worsening by the second.
"I'll send a search party out," he finally muttered, reaching over for his desk phone to make the call. Whilst he was doing so, Scott burst into the office too, panting like his life depended on it.
"Professor, I don't know if any students have been unaccounted for but my freakin' bike has been stolen," he announced. Charles started dialling the security team's number a little quicker, whilst Logan and Rogue glanced at each other and released similar tired sounding sighs. "What?" Scott frowned at them both.
"Ashley stole your bike, Summers," Logan told him, folding his arms, "she ran away. She's gone."
"I mean after today - are we really surprised?" Scott scoffed, indirecting Charles yet again. But before the professor could answer, his desk phone went off out of no where. He picked it up immediately, hoping it was something to do with Ashley's whereabouts.
But it wasn't - it was his ex wife.
"Charles?"
"Mella, I'm glad you called. There's been a situation - Ashley's missing; she's run away again, so if she ends up at yours or if you hear anything from her, let me know. I'm about to call out a sear-"
"Don't, don't you dare call out any search parties on my daughter, Charles," Maria warned him as soon as she could. "She's a grown woman, not a lost cat." Immediately, Charles' face fell. It suddenly dawned on him, like a heavy blanket thrown onto his head.
"Mella, where is she?" he asked her lowly. Scott, Logan and Rogue stared at him once the words tumbled out of his mouth. "People down here are worried, what the hell have you done?"
"What have I done?" Mella spluttered at his audacity. "No, Charles, what have you done?! The girl called me yesterday absolutely petrified because her own father had no faith in her passing the rugged exams that he forced her to take!"
"Mella, just answer the damn question - where is Ashley?" Charles pressed on, trying his very hardest to ignore the digs flying at him.
This wasn't the time.
"I don't know where she is. I don't blame the girl for running away but I certainly haven't stolen her, if that's what you're implying," Mella snapped back angrily.
"No, what I'm 'implying' is that you know something and as her father and head teacher, I deserve to know too, particularly if it puts others at risk!" Charles hissed down the line. Rogue glanced away from him uncomfortably - they always spoke about Ashley as if she were a ticking time bomb and at this point, she didn't know whether it was fear mongering or if she should actually be afraid of her
"'Others'? There you go again, talking about her like she's a badly conducted experiment on the loose! I knew from the moment she told me about these exams that this whole 'X Men' nonsense wasn't for her," Mella finally grumbled, absolutely fuming. "What's the point of her joining a group that won't accept her powers for what they are? Why not go somewhere else, where she'll be appreciated? I thought you of all people would understand this."
Charles' entire body suddenly ran cold and his skin grew pale.
"Mella," he muttered, leaning back in his wheelchair further. "You didn't. Tell me you didn't tip off S.H.E.I.L.D. Tell me that's not what you did, Mella - please."
"Can't tell you that, because that's exactly what I did, Charles," Mella interrupted his empty pleas, "I told them last night that Ashley would be on the radar because the only person that didn't see this outcome coming today was you. The man that can see everything. Now isn't that ironic?" Charles started to feel weaker and weaker by the second, slumping his head forward.
"You have no idea what you've just done," he muttered down the line before abruptly ending the call. Logan, Scott and Rogue all stared at him expectantly, waiting for him to explain, a bundle of nerves. "Ashley's about to be approached by a new organisation. We've lost her," Charles told them gravely, with a deep sadness lingering in his eyes.
"I'm sorry?" Scott spluttered.
"'New organisation'?" Logan repeated in what sounded like disgust.
"What is the name of this 'organisation'?" Rogue asked curiously, leaning back against the wall as she awaited an answer.
"S.H.E.I.L.D," Charles replied slowly, "They've been trying to access her for a while, but for as long as she was on our grounds, they were legally forbidden to come anywhere near her. It was a deal that was struck when she was much younger-"
"But…she's only just left us…you really think they can find her that fast?" Scott raised a cynical eyebrow.
"They've had eyes on her for years and they're a government organisation. What they have access to we only wish we had," Charles informed them darkly. "I don't doubt that they're about to pounce on her like a lion to its prey. They probably rigged the cameras to spot her as soon as Mella tipped them off."
"So…are they good guys or bad guys?" Rogue frowned in confusion.
"As far as I'm aware, they're good. They somewhat saved the world a year or so ago - the big incident in Manhattan with the aliens? Yes, that was down to them," Charles assured the group.
"So then what's the problem?" Logan pressed on.
"The problem is that if we can't contain her mutation, they certainly won't be able to. They could use her however they please - and that worries me more than I can put into words," Charles muttered, tearing his eyes away from them and out of his office window instead.
"Well then…let's go and get her back," Scott shrugged, as if it was just that simple.
...
a/n: hope you guys are enjoying so far! next chapter we'll be meeting a very familiar face...
