It was dark outside by the time I woke up, but other than that I had no idea what time it was. Wanda was still sleeping, which I smiled at. She looked so happy and peaceful there in my arms. But, as with all good things in life, it wouldn't last. A few seconds later I realized why I had woken up. There were sounds of footsteps headed our way, heavy ones that sounded like they were in some kind of combat boot. I sighed in recognition: Lance.
"Wanda," I whispered gently. I didn't want Lance to be the one to wake her up, and I only had a few seconds. "Wanda, I'm sorry but you gotta wake up." Slowly her eyes fluttered open, and for a second she looked confused. She sat up, me with her, and I put a hand at the small of her back. "Lance is gonna come in here in a few seconds." She didn't have a chance to ask why, because just then the door opened and he walked in. He looked jumpy, and was certainly surprised to see me there with Wanda.
"Toad?" he said, giving voice to his astonishment. Wanda glared at him.
"What do you want Lance? Or did you just come here to tell me my brothertold you more secrets I can't know about?" Lance looked at her and shook his head.
"No, nothing like that. Well, it has to do with that. Look, can we talk on the way? We don't have a real big window of opportunity here," Lance told her. He kept his voice low and his eyes shifted from place to place, like he expected something to jump out of any of the corners at any given second.
"On the way to where? What makes you think I'd trust you enough to get in a car with you? I know Pietro's on Magneto's side, and I saw you with him just today! I'm not stupid Lance, now get out." I put my hand on hers, which made her look at me.
"Hold on a sec, yo. Somethin's up," I told her quietly, just loud enough for her ears. "Look at how nervous he is. I've never seen him like this. Hear him out, at least." At first I could tell she wanted to ignore me, but then she relaxed her face and nodded.
"Fine. Lance, tell me what's going on." Lance seemed surprised at her changing her mind after I said something, but didn't dwell on it.
"Look, long story short he's coming for you. Tonight. Right now's the only time when the house isn't being watched, and that time is closing. Now are you gonna trust me or not?" Wanda tensed up at his words, then looked at me. Lance didn't have to say who 'he' was, we all knew. Magneto was coming for her now, when she was still weak.
"Toad, should we trust him?" I wasn't used to Wanda asking for my insights or advice. Usually she did whatever she wanted, without asking anyone's permission. I looked back at Lance and focused on him with all of my senses. Elevated heart rate, over active nervous system, and he couldn't hold still.
"He's really freakin' out over there, yo. Whenever Lance went on a mission, he'd be cool 'n collected. He's good at lying, not good at double crossing, especially Magneto. I say we go for it. If he's right, we don't have a lotta time." Wanda nodded, and without another hesitation she stood and helped me up. We didn't grab anything –not much to grab anyways- and like that we were in Lance's jeep, speeding off into the night.
"How do you know that he's not following us?" Wanda asked Lance.
"I don't," Lance replied, which drew my eyes to the sky behind us to keep a look out.
"Where are we going?" Wanda inquired.
"To the one place even Magneto thinks twice about raiding. The x-mansion," Lance told her.
"What! What makes you think they will help? They have their own problem with me." Lance shrugged.
"That's true, but they helped you out before, didn't they?" he asked. He was right. It felt like an eternity ago, but it was really only a few days. When Wanda had been so near death, they had brought her back and made sure that she was fine. She must have been remembering the same thing, because she was quiet for the rest of the ride. Soon enough, the jeep stopped in an alcove not far from the back of the mansion. "This is as far as I go. I gotta get back before they know I took off." Wanda and I hopped out, but she turned around.
"Why? Why help me? What's in it for you?" Lance looked torn for a second, but then rolled his eyes and looked away.
"I do need to ask you one thing." Wanda crossed her arms, but said nothing. "Look, I don't know much, but I know this; shit's gonna hit the fan. Not for just you, but for everyone. Can you….can you just get a message to Kitty for me?" He looked over and Wanda, and she raised an eyebrow, but nodded. "Tell her…tell her that if things get too crazy, to leave a sign at our spot, and I'll make sure she gets out ok."
"I'll tell her," Wanda responded, and Lance let out a breath of relief.
"Thank you." He looked between the two of us for a second, then shrugged and took off. Wanda and I watched him go for only a second before turning to face the giant steep hill that the x-mansion was on top of. Wanda looked worried, but I smiled at her.
"Don't worry yo, I got this," I told her and started walking to the right.
"Toad, you're going the wrong way aren't you? Even I can see the mansion is that way."
"I know the mansion is that way, but our easy way into the mansion is this way. Trust me." She watched me for a minute, then shook her head and followed me off to the side. Before long we came to a patch of woods that was familiar to me, and I smiled at her again before kicking at the undergrowth. "Found it," I told her, and pulled a green gem from the forest floor. She gave me a quizzical look, but I shook my head at her, telling her to wait for the explanation. With a huge leap, I landed on the upper branches of a nondescript looking tree, and placed my gem there in the way of what looked like moonlight. Like magic, a green light shot from the branch to the inside of the tree and down into the darkness of its hollowed trunk. I jumped back down to stand beside Wanda as she was still looking at the tree.
"What did you just do?" she asked me.
"It's a signal, for those who're lookin' for it. Green is me, to Tabby. Others use it though, it's for inter-mutant relationships that people don't want public. Red is for Lance, which Kitty comes out for usually, and purple is for Amanda, who used to bring out Nightcrawler. That's all I know, but there are different colors over there. I don't know whose they are. Anyways, Tabby'll be out in a minute, 'n she'll take us through the back way."
"And the professor doesn't know about this?" she asked incredulously. I shrugged.
"The dude's a mind reader. Who knows what he hears in our heads. Either way, it's never failed unless the person on the inside chooses not to come out."
"Where does the light go on the inside?" she asked. "The professor, or someone else, would have seen it before now it if were prominent."
"Na, it's not a huge beacon or anything, yo. Just a little light that only those who're lookin' for it will see. I think Forge made it, with help from the others, but I'm not sure. I just use it, I didn't make it…..wait," I told her, straining my ears to hear something. There was a rustling off to my left, and the sound of hinges. "Someone's coming, I'm pretty sure it's Tabs."
"Toad?" I heard Tabby call through the night.
"Over here," I called back. Sure enough, Tabby came into view.
"What're you doing out here this early? Do you know what time it is?" she asked, but then her eyes fell on my companion. "Wanda? What the hell?"
"Tabby, we don't have a lot of time," I told her as I stepped forward and took her hand. "I need you to do me a huge favor." Her eyes went from Wanda to me, trying to figure out what was going on.
"Uh, sure?" she said, still uncertain of the situation.
"We need to talk to the professor. Now. It can't wait. Can you get us in, and to him?"
"Why? What happened?" she asked, but I shook my head.
"No time. Just know that it's big, and we need his help. I promise I'll explain everything else later, I just can't right now." Tabby hesitated for a minute, but then Wanda chimed in.
"Tabitha, I know that we've never really talked, but it's important. I wouldn't be here, asking you, if it weren't." Tabby looked up at her, then back to me, then sighed.
"If I get another early morning Logan session because of this, I'll kill you both," she said half-heartedly before turning around and beckoning us to follow her. She reopened the passage way with a hand scan and led us through the winding tunnel that led up into a closet of the mansion. Once there, she opened the door to make sure it was clear, then lead us down a hallway with red carpet and through two oak doors until we reached one that she stopped at. "This is his study. He's almost always in here, no matter what time it is. Or maybe he's only here when we need him. Huh." That thought seemed to perplex her for a bit, but then she shrugged her shoulders. "Anyway, he'll be in there." Wanda hesitated at the door, then looked back at me. I could tell that she was scared to ask the help of the professor, but knew she didn't have a choice. Things had gotten out of hand and were way too far above her head for her to handle on her own now. I put my hand in hers, and she offered me a small smile in return. Tabby gave me a quizzical look, and I only shrugged. Wanda inhaled deeply, then knocked softly on the door. There was no reply, so she turned to look at Tabby who shrugged. I could tell Wanda was about to turn away, but then we heard a noise from inside.
"It's alright Wanda, you may come in." Both she and I jumped at the address, but Tabby just smiled. 'Told you' she mouthed to me, and Wanda opened the door. The professor had a book open on his desk, reading it by the light of a desk lamp with a cup of something steaming next to him. "Ah, Tabitha. Thank you for helping these two find their way. But if I'm not mistaken, you have school early in the morning, and I wouldn't want Logan to find you out of bed at this hour."
"Yeah, thanks professor!" she told him. She turned and gave me a meaningful look signifying that she expected to be given a fully detailed explanation later, and then she was gone.
"Wanda, Toad, would you like to take a seat?" he asked as he indicated the two chairs in front of him. She looked at me, and I shrugged, so we both took a chair. "Now, what is it that tore you from bed at this hour?" he asked.
"Uh, can't you just pull it from our heads or somethin'?" I blurted, then blushed and looked down as he fixed his eyes on me.
"Yes Toad, it is true I do possess the ability to enter someone's mind, but I usually refrain from doing so as a personal curtsey to those around me. I would prefer people choose to relay information to me directly, rather than to go fishing around in someone's thoughts."
"Oh," I said brilliantly and clasped my hands together between my knees. The professor returned his gaze to Wanda who seemed tense. Again I put my hand on hers, which seemed to give her some kind of comfort.
"Well," she started slowly, not sure what to start with. "I got a tip from someone that Magneto has intentions to come after me. Tonight. Actually at any second. And I also have information that tells me that he can, and plans, to take my mutant ability and give it to someone else, which would kill me," she told him bluntly. The professor's eyebrows knitted together.
"It is unusual that Eric would seek to destroy a mutant life. You have this information from a good source?" he asked her, and she nodded.
"A good enough source for me to trust it, sir." This seemed to trouble the professor, as he leaned back in his chair and put on hand to his chin in thought.
"I see. And you came here seeking sanctuary?"
"Well, I'm not sure why I came here. I didn't have a lot of time to plan. I just know that here is temporarily safe for me, at least until I can figure things out." I was absolutely amazed at how calm and reasonable Wanda sounded, especially with all of the history she had with this man, but then I realized that might have been why. All those years that Magneto had her locked up, she had been meeting with the professor. She already knew how to address him, and had fallen back into that routine.
"This is, indeed, a troubling and pressing matter. However, I do agree with you Wanda. Your presence here my sty Magneto's imminent attack, and perhaps it will give me just enough time to have a private conversation with him."
"You mean you could talk to him 'n get him not to come after Wanda?" I asked him. He looked at me, but it was with a faraway look in his eyes.
"I can give no promises on the outcome of our meeting. Eric has always had a different agenda, and has never been very susceptible to others attempting to bring reason to his plans. However, I will do my best to persuade him to do otherwise. In the meantime, you may make yourself at home here."
"Thank you, professor," Wanda said, though she fidgeted as she said it and bit her lip. It didn't take a mind reader to understand she was worried about being in the same house as the x-men.
"I understand your apprehension about the others that live here, but you should give them the benefit of the doubt. I'm willing to bet that if you give them time, and perhaps a smile or two, things will change rather quickly." Wanda still seemed reserved, but nodded. "As long as you refrain from starting conflict, I trust that there will be none. That goes for both of you," he said, lowering his chin to give me a look. I knew what he was referring to. The first time I had come to this mansion, it hadn't ended so well. I blushed, but nodded my agreement.
"Understood," she told him, and we both stood.
"Tabitha," the professor said, which had both Wanda and I startled. Tabby then walked into the room, shame-faced. "I see you've had some trouble finding your room. Perhaps you could take Wanda with you this time? And Todd can have one of the guest rooms on the boy's corridor."
"Yes professor," Tabby told him. He smiling knowingly at her, and nodded at all of us in dismissal.