Chapter 7: Footage trouble

(1 day later.)

Xavier's P.O.V

Despite the cameras having been installed strategically throughout the grounds, they had captured no sightings of this elusive creature. The situation was becoming quite…vexing. My laptop screen displayed a grid of areas within my estate, some cameras covering the borders just in case the creature tried to leave. It was a seamless set up – Hank had outdone himself. Each camera was never placed more than ten trees apart throughout the forest and all points of the river and cliff paths were monitored. There were two dedicated to the entrances of both caves in the cliff as well.

Another use of Cerebro had also yielded no results. It was always more difficult to telepathically link with an animal, but I had been able to detect and influence their instincts before, if rarely. Yet it did not seem to be a possibility with this creature.

The uncertainty of the situation was beginning to manifest as a slight headache. "This school needs to be a safe place." If I must, I would sacrifice some more sleep as I did last night. I needed to learn this creature's patterns and behaviour first and foremost.

I looked at the screen again, sighing and reminding myself that patience was key. If I waited, I would surely see it at some point. "All things come to those who wait." – Violet Fane, 1892.

When I lifted a hand to massage my eyes, a knock at my study's door caused me to pause for a moment. Recollecting myself, I called, "Come in."

"Professor," was Wolverine's greeting as he entered.

"Logan, what can I help you with today?" I asked, pointedly turning my laptop away so my eyes would not stray to it. Logan would not mind – he felt as strongly as I, if in a different manner, regarding the situation. As we all did to some degree. Right now however, he had sought me out. Good manners dictated that I do not divide my attention from my student.

He grunted, clearly displeased about something. "Jus' wanted to tell you that me and Gambit went out earlier to see if I could get a scent for that thing and track it."

"Ah." I had wondered why a camera had caught them returning to the mansion. "Was there any success?"

"That's what's botherin' me," he said, leaning against the wall. "I couldn't track it at all. It was just like last time we were all out lookin' for it where I didn't pick anything up. Just pollution and dirt and grass." He looked off to the side, scratching at his sideburns in irritation.

I laced my fingers together, feeling the wrinkles of old age clearer than usual. "Curious." Wolverine's highly advanced smell meant that almost nothing got past him. It was no wonder he was upset by it.

He grunted again, almost a growl. "That was all – I'll see you later Professor," he called back from the doorway. I nodded as he left, turning my laptop to face me again. Other matters requiring either my time or my signature were not as urgent as this. Determining this threat level was of utmost importance, above all else, unless an immediate danger presented itself.

"Quite out of the blue, like this creature."

That was another point that aroused my curiosity. This creature had seemingly appeared from nowhere. It must have come from somewhere, but where?

I looked around the screen again, frowning lightly as a dark section of the grid became apparent. "Hank, I need you in my office as soon as you can be."

"I'll be right there Professor," he answered.

"What could have happened?" I questioned, headache returning. "The other cameras are unaffected."

They had also still not captured anything.

Hanks knocked on the door politely before entering. He approached my desk, tilting his head as he saw where my focus was concentrated. "Did you see something on the footage?"

I shook my head. "No Hank, in fact, I cannot see anything at all on one of them."

A noise came from the back of his throat as he peered closer. "How odd. What could have disrupted the feed?" he asked himself rhetorically, a finger placed at his chin. "Perhaps it is not receiving enough sunlight, but the others… Hm." He visibly shook himself out of his thoughts, smiling slightly. "I shall go and check it over just in case."

"That would be appreciated," I thanked him. "Remember to take one of the others with you. Be careful."

"Certainly," he replied as he left.

Cyclopes' P.O.V

I had to say yes when Beast asked if I could go out for a while with him. He couldn't go out on his own, and a part of me wanted to see this creature too. Only Rogue and Jubilee had seen it and they had been put into some sort of hypnotic trance thing.

We still didn't know what to make of the blindness part. Maybe it was a side effect of the hypnotism.

Beast and I walked down towards the cliff path where he led me over to a tree. I watched as he jumped up onto a thick, low-hanging branch. A cursory glance after he asked me to keep watch was enough for a few seconds, until I looked back up and saw him fiddling with…was that a camera? "Yo, Beast, what's a camera doing up there?"

"This is one of my wireless surveillance cameras," he answered without looking away or pausing in his apparent inspection. "I repurposed the prototypes I made for training so Charles could use them to watch for this creature."

"O-kay," I drew out, thinking it over. Having another way to keep an eye out for this thing made a lot of sense.

Hank suddenly leaned to the side a little as I glanced at our surroundings again, looking confused as he pressed something on the side of the camera. Whatever that did apparently fixed the problem as he shook his head then leapt back down. "There, task complete."

Just as we turned and began walking back to the mansion, I felt the Professor lightly link with my mind – and clearly Hank's too judging by the look of it.

"Scott, Hank, another camera has gone offline by the first waterfall. Can you check that one as well?"

Hank looked at me and I shrugged. "Sure Professor," I replied as we changed direction. These things were important. If we (Henry) had to do some maintenance, I didn't mind using my time to tag along.

When we got to that one, Beast did the exact same thing as before: jumped up, looked, pressed something I assume is a button, then he came back down again looking even more confused.

"Same as last time?" I asked pointlessly. A troubled expression was my answer.

When the mansion came into sight I thought that would be the end of it, but then Professor Xavier contacted us again, telling us that two more cameras had gone offline. Another glance at Beast confirmed that this – whatever it was – shouldn't be happening. We ran to the first one, on a tree next to the entrance gate, where Beast wasted no time in reaching up and fixing it. I nodded as he turned, bracing to run to the next one when the Professor contacted us yet again.

"Three more cameras have lost their visual. Have you determined what is causing this Hank?"

"Someone is turning them off," Beast's reply changed everything.

"Someone is here."

Unease echoing from all three of us across the link, the Professor told us to be on guard before giving us the next locations. Four in total. I frowned, keeping up with Beast as we ran.

"Beast," I called, decision made. "Let's split up. We might have a better chance of catching them that way."

He nodded, clearly thinking the same thing. "It is not the first time intruders have been on the grounds. Stay alert and aim to the sky if you need help. Press the button on the side of the cameras – that should do it! We shall meet back near the clearing!" he called back as he changed course.

"Got it!"

The mention of intruders made my mind go back to the incident that had happened…geez, nearly six months ago, now. "Don't waste any time and be ready to take the glasses off," I reminded myself, uncovering the first of my cameras in a bush.

"Excellent work Scott. Return to Hank as soon as you are done, I do not want the two of you separated for more than need be."

"Sure thing, Professor."

I started off in a sprint to my next target. Now I was extremely bothered by the whole ordeal.

"Just what is going on?"

Beast's P.O.V

"I do not understand."

For lack of a better word, I was stumped. The cameras should have picked up anyone nearby, yet they had detected nothing. Someone knew exactly where to find them and how to turn them off. Granted, knowledge of the button was of no large consequence, but my inventions were small and hidden quite well.

Had someone used a scanner? I frowned. This situation would require a group of people, especially with how far apart the affected cameras were.

"That would be a further worry in an already worrisome situation, but neither Scott nor myself have seen or heard anyone. Technology used to disguise someone's presence would be advanced, yet only able to do so much." I paused, balancing on a tree branch. The only other being on the grounds was the creature. "But animals have been proven to very rarely interfere with technology. The times they do are more from curiosity than actual knowledge," I argued with myself. My instincts bristled, unsettled just as my mind was. "Even then," I reasoned further, "the cameras are still very far apart."

There was no chance of a single entity being behind this, but who could it be?

I shook my head firmly, focusing on the task at hand as I reached my last camera. Pushing the button, I turned and swung through the forest to re-join Cyclopes.

Spider-Man's P.O.V

"Okay, this is good."

My distraction had worked better than I could have hoped. The two out in the grounds were running around like crazy while I quietly made my way to the mansion. If it was only Cyclopes and Beast I could get outside, I would take it. Someone was obviously still watching inside, seeing as the pair of them knew where to go, but neither of them were carrying a radio, or phone, or walkie talkie even. "A mental thing then. Definitely telepathy." I gave a mental shrug. Anything was possible with mutagenesis – I was living proof of that. "Nice to know what the Professor is though."

There was a chain link fence around the side of the building housing a dumpster, but I was interested in the roof. I gauged how far I would need to jump to reach the wall absently, thinking back to the cameras.

They were Beast's – I knew that. Ingenious and tricky to make at that size, but they had the plain old design of a button. The placement of them was what had let him down though. All I had to do was scale the cliff face and stick to the higher branches of the trees to stay out of range.

Maybe they made the oversight because they had only seen me on the ground. Not that it really mattered. I mentally shrugged again and made the jump, climbing the wall.

Beast had hopped and swung around the forest with ease to check on his machines when I watched him rushing to one nearby before. There was something about this "Hank". He still made my head ache when I saw him, but it was a more familiar sort of ache that I could now associate with missing memories rather than bright colours. Staring at a pond for nearly twenty minutes before I remembered Uncle Ben teaching me to fish there had made that distinction clear.

So, I had met him before. Possibly. Maybe I had only seen him with his group or something, but if it had happened it would have still been back when I could talk and had the correct number of limbs. Being humanoid was long behind me.

Nothing memory-related was readily forthcoming just from watching him or the others. Though I gave up on chasing possible memories that weren't ready…or maybe weren't even there reluctantly, I had a plan to follow.

I needed to find out more about these people. Even if this was a fruitless endeavour memory-wise, I would still gain some insights into who these people were and what to expect.

It was frighteningly easy to hear everything through the walls. Nobody was near my position, but all of the sounds rang hollow in a way. I frowned again. "Secrets… Coupled with the vibrations from yesterday evening, like something had moved…" I hadn't heard or seen anything, but it was definitely coming from this building. It was stronger when I got closer.

That posed the question: why would a mansion need underground floors?

"And what are they doing down there?"

Hopefully I would find out.

I pulled myself onto the roof, ready to see if I could open one of the skylights. Standing upright and sliding over to one, I placed my claws lightly on the glass.

Bad idea.

My spider-sense started going haywire after a few seconds. "Where?" I couldn't see any danger, but I heard it. My fur bristled as I swung around.

A giant robotic claw was reaching for me. I tore it in half.

"That was almost too easy…"

Four more of them slid from hidden panels on the roof and lunged towards me. I leant back, flipping away from them. "Agility – got to love it." I dodged them again before I had an opening, trapping two at either side with three arms each – how generous of me – and tearing them out of their holdings. The other two were easily disposed of as well.

"Well, let's see if the not-so-itsy bitsy spider monster can climb down the waterspout."

Following the remains of the arms led to discovering a metal covering near the back of the roof that I pried open.

"What needs defending so badly?"

After warping the metal a little more to make sure my claw marks weren't the most obvious thing in the world, I dropped onto all eights and crawled in.

"I am probably going to regret this… Spider-sense, shut up!"