Chapter 5: Spotted

Spider-Man's P.O.V

Of course I heard them looking for me. With hearing as sensitive as mine I didn't really have a choice. After the incident with the truck I was on high alert, tracking them to make sure they failed to find anything that revealed our close living quarters while keeping out of sight. Listening in on their conversations provided some comfort seeing as they did not really know what to look for, except that the creature under investigation had red eyes.

I didn't dare sneak out of my cave to find food after the girl saw me, waiting until stars blanketed the sky and the group had retired indoors. The group that had two people who could fly, of all things. Seemingly under their own power too, but one of them looked as if she was more affected by the weather than the other.

The only logical thing to think in this situation was that they were mutants, like me. I certainly couldn't detect any sounds of engines keeping them aloft at any rate. The others on the ground seemed to have some technology – one had unusual-looking goggles over his eyes, and his partner carried an extendable staff that he showed off with a few times, but it was the other two who presented solid evidence to the theory.

One had retractable metal claws and a strange bone structure if the noises his joints made meant anything. The other one had fur.

Bright blue fur that made my head throb just by looking at him. He was covered from head to toe, claws on his hands and feet too. Maybe I would have felt a closer kinship if my spider-sense hadn't flared up whenever I strayed closer to their groups. That, and he could talk. Everyone also had the correct number of limbs.

"I won't fit in anywhere."

Not that I wanted to, particularly. Spider-Man was a solo act. Maybe I would be open to teaming up – again, the faceless people lurked at the edges of my mind – but that was when I could talk…and had the correct number of limbs.

I snorted mildly, continuing to track the pair out in the grounds. There was the same girl in yellow from before alongside one of the flying ones: the one with red and white hair. I kept my distance, listening for any conversation they would make, but the two seemed content to walk in silence. They weren't searching for me, instead aimlessly walking through the woodland.

It was simple to follow them from the trees as I had been doing when they were out and I was "home" from patrolling the city, but I held back a sneeze when the wind blew my way again, carrying the cloying scent of hairspray.

"Ugh."

I let the two of them go further ahead for a minute, breathing fresh air and soaking in a perfect basking spot where the sun pierced through the uppermost leaves to the branch I was sitting on.

"Nice."

I closed my eyes, permitting myself to rest for a moment or so. The pair were easy to catch up to, so it couldn't hurt to stay a little while, could it?

Tweet!

"Uh. What?"

Tweet! Tweet! Tweet!

My eyes cracked open and I focused on where that was coming from, fur bristling. Such a high pitch usually meant it was a young bird, but…

I almost groaned. It was coming from where those two were headed. "Couple distress with a polluting hairdo… This is basic biology!"

I definitely couldn't leave it to the two women. I would just have to stay out of sight.

"Can't I catch a break with these people?"

Sighing, I moved quickly from my spot, swiftly catching up. Ignoring the buzzing from my spider-sense, I crept nearer to the noise they had now noticed as well.

(Ten minutes earlier.)

Rogue's P.O.V

Jubilee asked if I wanted to go for a stroll with her. I could tell the poor doll didn't want to be out all on her lonesome because of that ruckus a week ago. She was probably still a little shaken up over it, but a walk did sound nice. "'Kay sugar, let's go," I replied with a wink and a thumbs up.

Like we all seemed to do at some point or another, we wound up walking through the trees without the aid of any paths, just wanderin' and taking in the scenery. We even chatted a bit about the new hairstyle I was tryin' out. I sure wasn't doing anything like it again in future seein' as I had to use nearly half a can of hairspray to make it stick.

"So anyways sugar, –" I started, only to be cut off by something out of the norm.

Tweet! … Tweet! Tweet! Tweet!

We both stopped. "What's that?" Jubilee wondered aloud.

"A bird obviously," I chuckled, "But I dunno what's up with it – let's go check it out."

The noise only became more noticeable now that we had been made aware of it, so it was pretty easy to track down to the very tree it was coming from. Or rather, the base of the tree.

A baby bird had fell from its nest which was a fair bit higher up. The mother wasn't anywhere to be seen. "Aw, Rogue, can you help it? This is too far for me to climb."

I sniggered, answering, "O' course sugar." Jubilee had had plenty of fun climbing trees before, but I wouldn't leave the poor critter cryin' like that for longer than it needed to. It looked like this called for an easy flight for Rogue and some more time for Jubilee to recuperate.

"She might be outta sorts for a while yet," I reasoned, stepping forward.

Something made Jubilee gasp from behind me.

I whirled, following her line of sight. "What the -?!" A big, light grey claw was barely visible underneath a bush. I formed a fist and raised it as the leaves shifted, but I didn't really mind too much about that. Those eyes were what had my attention, before I couldn't see anything at all.

3rd Person P.O.V

Hoping that what he had hypothesised about Jubilee and his aura was right, Spider-Man prodded it just after getting the pair's attention. After all, if all Jubilee had seen of him when he was out in the open were his eyes, his aura flaring should have something to do with it.

As soon as the two's eyes locked onto his, he shot webs from his middle arms, quickly aimed from underneath the bush. The instant webbing covered their vision, he sprung from the brush – strands still attached to his arms – and rushed behind them. In doing so, the ropes of web Spider-Man was pulling jerked the two X-Men off balance and caused them to stumble.

After having their sight obstructed, the two had begun to recentre themselves straight away, but before their hands could even reach their faces, they had to fling their arms out blindly in a bid to reclaim balance. This gave Spider-Man just enough time to scoop up the chick, stand upright and deposit it back into its nest.

Then he quickly twisted his two middle arms, tugging his webs backwards in the same moment. The strands popped from Rogue and Jubilee's faces.

Hurriedly reeling the extra length back into his spinnerets, Spider-Man turned and ran, disappearing into the surrounding forest.

The two females heard the brief crash of leaves, which prompted them to cease rubbing the stinging sensation from the skin around their eyes. Rogue reassumed her guarded stance from before, eyeing the bushes carefully as Jubilee stepped closer, hands ready to fire.

Only when two minutes had passed without them noticing anything did Jubilee dare to speak. "What just happened?" she whispered.

"No idea," the (mostly) redhead replied, dropping her hand. "But I do know one thing – that wasn't normal. We gotta get back to the mansion and tell the others!" Bearing in mind her companion couldn't fly, Rogue took off first, Jubilee barely a stride behind, racing back the way they came.

Neither of them were clear headed enough to notice the baby bird sitting back in its mother's nest.

For a second time in under a fortnight, the mansion doors burst open.

"Not again," Gambit groaned, poking his head from the kitchen just in time to glimpse the two figures racing down the carpeted hallways. "Better eat this quick."

Meanwhile Rogue and Jubilee slowed slightly once they were within safer grounds. "Where do you think –"

"He mentioned the library at breakfast!"

They adjusted course accordingly. Once they came to a halt in front of the door, the pair took a moment to get their breath back before entering and scanning the area.

The Professor turned from his spot at the window. "Good afternoon girls, what can I help you with? I could hear you running down the halls."

"Professor, we saw that thing again," Jubilee explained hurriedly. Beside her, Rogue nodded, lips thin.

Frowning, Charles closed his eyes and linked their minds, experiencing their memories for himself. He noticed the claw sticking out from under the bush; the blindness that ended the sequence, but more importantly the glowing red eyes directly in-between.

The same eyes as before.

"Everyone, come to the library immediately."

Wolverine's P.O.V

I put my wrench down as the command echoed in my head. "Oh great."

Twice in under two weeks? This wasn't good.

"I wonder what it is this time."

The oil on my hands was quickly wiped off with a rag before I headed up. When I got to the room, everyone else was already there and I gave the Professor a close look as I sat down. Chuck never called full meetings for no reason. "Magneto at it again? Not seen him in a while." I crossed my arms, leaning back and waiting.

Only once he saw everyone was paying attention did the Professor talk. "Rogue and Jubilee have spotted the creature from a week ago."

"WHAT?! How –" I yelled, nearly leaping from my seat. My nose doesn't lie – when we were out searching I didn't pick up a damn thing. How had it hid? "Or did it leave and come back?"

"Calm yourself Logan. It appears to have either returned from wherever it had gone, or has simply evaded our attempts to find it. We are lucky that it never brought harm to Jubilee or Rogue. It was certainly close enough to do so," he said, mirroring my thoughts. It was freaky how that sometimes happened without the mental thing goin' on.

"Unless you count being blinded by something," Jubilee muttered off to the side.

I still picked up on it from my spot. "Blinded?" I repeated before anyone else could.

She looked up, but the Professor steepled his fingers and called us back to attention. "Yes, something obscured both of their sight for a short time, but before that those same red eyes appeared. Alongside the claw –"

"Claw?!"

"– that was also spotted, this seems to confirm that what we are dealing with is a predator. Forward-facing red eyes, large claws and a sizable body to deal with such proportions is a reasonable assumption. Now, what were you two doing out there?"

"We were just walking before we heard a bird tweeting its heart out," Rogue started.

"It was a chick that had fell from its nest. Rogue was going to help it, but then that creature showed up. I know we were blinded, somehow –" she waved a hand at her eyes, "– but we still should have seen something. I mean, its head was right in front of us! Why can't we ever get a good look at it?" Jubilee asked.

"Good point. Something ain't right." The fact that this thing shows up, twice now, and all they saw first and foremost were its eyes was downright weird. I didn't like it.

"Well," Beast spoke up, "seeing as only the two of you have spotted this creature, let us think. What do the two of you have in common?"

"We're both gals Henry," Rogue answered after a lull in conversation.

"Precisely what I was thinking," Beast said, pointing. "Perhaps whatever effect it has been using to stop you seeing it fully only affects females. It would not be the first time we have encountered gender-specific effects."

"So, what?" I grunted. "Your saying it's been hypnotising 'em like in the old Dracula tales?"

"That is unclear as of yet," he answered seriously in spite of my sarcasm.

I blinked, but just when I was about to retort by asking what he meant by that – "as of yet". Nothing else would be happening if we had anything to say about it – the Professor interjected.

"If this is indeed a valid hypothesis, then I do not want any of the women to explore the grounds by themselves."

There was instant uproar.

"Hey! We're perfectly capable of taking care of ourselves thank ya'll very much!" Rogue exclaimed, shooting to her feet. I sniffed at the scent of hairspray drifting my way from the movement.

"Ororo and I haven't even seen it yet!" Jean said, looking between Storm and the Professor.

"It might not have the same effect on us all," Storm agreed, a displeased tightening of her lips noticeable.

I laughed internally as Beast defended himself with, "It is only a theory. None of us have seen it yet either." He gestured around at the men. "But I think it best we do not take chances."

"Never insult these women without good reason," I noted.

Cyclops tried to calm Jean down while Gambit took a page outta my book and stayed quiet. The Professor also had the same idea, waiting until most of the tirade had stopped before speaking again. "Please, calm yourselves. Be as it may that only two of us have seen it, it could still affect us all. We have no way of knowing, just as we cannot determine its temperament, or what it is and its capabilities. For now, I concur with Beast. All of you could be in danger and unable to defend yourselves at a crucial moment, or this creature could simply sneak up behind you if it is stealthy enough to be living in the same area unnoticed. For the foreseeable future, no one is to venture into the grounds alone until we have more information. Am I understood?"

There were murmurs of consent around the room, mine included, however begrudgingly.

"Dismissed."