Alright. Chapter 4 - and no reviews. I'll give it a chance anyway, in case someone would suddenly trip over the story and like it.
And at the beginning, I said that I didn't own anything - Well, I own Maliz and someone that you will be introduced to later.
But enjoy the show.
Charles raised his head at the sound of the phone ringing. The book in his hands was gently put down in his lap and he rolled over to the table where the phone was sitting. He already knew it was Scott and he couldn't help but wonder why he would call now. He lifted the phone and answered it like he always did whenever Scott called him.
"Hello Scott."
He knew it still made Scott a bit startled whenever he did that, but it felt wrong to answer like he didn't know who it was when he did.
He felt something was wrong as soon as he had answered.
"Professor, we've found a mutant and it needs our help," Scott blurted out in the phone, making Charles blink and quirk an eyebrow.
"It?"
It was apparently rather complicated and Scott spoke in a voice that indicated that the questions could be asked later and under other circumstances.
"Alright, I will send Logan and the others to meet you. Have you found the other X-Men at the carnival?"
Rogue walked in, seeing Xavier with the phone and nodding at whatever the person in the other line said. She didn't want to disturb, but she didn't like the look on the professor's face either. As he put the phone down, she took a step forward without a word. The professor folded his hands and closed his eyes for a short while, before looking up at her.
"Is something wrong?" she asked, walking the few remaining steps to get up close to the man in the wheelchair.
"Apparently Scott and Jean have come across another mutant," Charles replied. Even in situations like these, he always managed to keep his voice calm, "Meet up with Wolverine and Beast at the X-Van. I will try to keep track on this new mutant using Cerebro."
Rogue nodded and ran down to where the uniforms hang. It didn't take long before she was suited up and she headed out of the Institute and towards the garage. It had darkened outside, but the summer sun still gave her some light to see her surroundings. She saw Beast stand by the garage door and hurried over to him. Wolverine was already sitting ready at the wheel, and the two mutants jumped in just as the driver gassed up and drove out, the gates opening for them to get out and then closed firmly behind them again.
Beside the sound of the engine pumping, it was quiet in the van. Rogue looked quickly from one side to the other before deciding to break the silence.
"So, what's that about a new mutant?" she asked, wondering why they were in such a hurry and why they all were needed on the spot.
"Apparently, there's a mutant being held captive by the travelling circus," Beast explained, "He, or she, was used as part of an act."
Rogue blinked. "That's awful," she exclaimed, not able to picture what kind of act the mutant had been part in. Somehow, it couldn't have been a trick where the audience could see it was a mutant – they would have hated the show just because of what the person was. And how was it possible for them to keep him trapped. Wouldn't the police have jumped in if they noticed something wrong?
'Unless he looks like Kurt or Mr. McCoy,' Rogue couldn't help but think. Was it possible that people wouldn't think of him as much of a human if that was the case? It was hard to believe, and yet not so hard after all, thinking about how people had acted up when they had first been exposed as mutants.
Wolverine stopped the car rather violently, parking right next to the mutant group who had been at the carnival. The sun had set and people had left the circus area to take the last tours in the amusement instalments near it. It was their luck that the two sections were divided like this. It meant that they were relatively alone. Most of the circus personnel had went out to party along with the rest of Bayville, leaving only a few remaining in their sleeping wagons on the far eastern side of the circus section.
Rogue, Wolverine and Beast jumped out and looked to the four students.
"So, what exactly are we looking for?" Wolverine asked with a raised eyebrow, mostly looking to Jean and Scott. Even though they had hurried out of the Xavier Mansion, they had been told before hand that it was those two who knew most about it.
"A tiger," Jean responded, "Unless she has turned to human form." Jean didn't actually know if the mutant could do that, but she took it for granted.
Wolverine nodded. "Where is it now?"
Jean pointed to the wagon areas behind the large tent and the group walked over to search. Jean and Scott walked directly to the wagon where they had encountered Maliz earlier. But when they walked over to it, they couldn't find a tiger, nor a human.
"Where did it go?" Scott asked himself, looking around, "The tiger were here when we went to the phone booth." Could it be the wrong wagon? Or had Maliz taken it somewhere else? It seemed unlikely. Where else than in a cage would he keep a tiger?
"Spread out," Wolverine ordered, making them split and walk in each their direction, though keeping together two and two constantly. They looked around the place, walking around the tent and slipping in beside the different wagons, but they couldn't see any other wagons fit for animal transport.
Kurt and Kitty had gone together, but upon finding nothing they returned to meet up with the others by the cage wagon.
"Nothing," Kurt remarked, as everyone was present, "Where could she be?"
"It's strange, isn't it?" Kitty suddenly said, "Like, there was a bear as well – then why is there only one cage?"
"Maybe they already drove the bear away?" Kurt suggested.
"Or, maybe he only has one animal," Beast looked to the cage, "If she can change into a tiger, she may as well be able to look like a bear as well."
"Right," Wolverine crossed his arms, annoyance clearly heard in his voice, "Then what does it look like now? Who even says it's still here?"
Well, that was the big question. She could have very well just run away on her own. But, why not do it before now if she could? Jean lifted her hand to her forehead and closed her eyes, concentrating. Upon opening her eyes again, she looked at Wolverine.
"No, she's still here, and close."
Beast still looked at the cage.
"Nightcrawler, try taking a peak inside," he told Kurt, who nodded and disappeared in a puff of smoke and reappeared inside the cage. He peered around, but then looked out on the others.
"What exactly am I looking for?"
"Anything that moves," Beast smiled, his large blue hand grabbing around one of the metal bars of the cage as he looked at the teenager. Kurt still looked human, having his holowatch switched on. Kurt blinked, looking a bit uneasy. Nevertheless, he took a step forward, his eyes mostly looking to the floor and the hay. The other X-Men studied him as he went, watching him kick up some of the hay as he looked.
"You need a hand?" Kitty phased through the bars and was about to get up when a bone was suddenly thrown at Kurt. Kitty gasped and fell backwards, landing on the hard ground among the X-Men. Kurt just barely dodged the bone, feeling it hitting his arm instead of his face.
"Hey!" he cried, lowering his arms just in time to see a new bone come flying at him.
"Mein Gott, was ist dass?" he backed away, suddenly seeing something sitting in the corner. It was small and hidden in the shadows, but it was clear that it had used the hay as cover and was sitting with yet another bone in its hand.
"Easy now," Beast tried speaking to the thing in the corner. The thing froze, its head turned to Beast. Kurt, seeing an opportunity, quickly reached down and grabbed the bone thrower by the neck and lifted it up. It started screaming at him in a high pitched voice and hit him on the arm with the bone. Kurt dropped it, making the animal fall to the ground.
"It's a… monkey?" Scott blinked behind the glasses. Was this their mutant? The little thing was small enough to slip out between the metal bars and make a run for it. Wasn't it clever enough for that?
The monkey waved the bone back and forth angrily, backing up against the corner again. Jean walked up to the cage, stretching in a hand.
"Please, we're here to help you."
The monkey lowered the bone, making a few chipping noises and looked around. It eyed every one of them in turn and scratched its head.
"Come on, drop your weapon," Jean smiled, and the monkey hesitantly obeyed, placing it gently beside it, though still in reach. "There we go. Can you come out to us?"
It hesitated, looking from Jean's hand and to her face. Suddenly it looked up and dashed back into the haystack it had hidden itself in before. Wolverine spun around, sniffing the air.
"Someone's coming."
The X-men jumped out of view, Kurt disappearing in an instant. So far the plan was to figure out if the mutant was truly kept there against her will – and then they would judge if they needed to just simply bust her out or if they should try to confront the animal trainer.
Speaking of which, Maliz came up to the wagon, slowly and with eyes watching the surrounding area. He could have sworn he saw shadows by the cage. He stopped, standing where Jean and the others had just been themselves. As of now, they were hiding behind another wagon, watching his every move.
Maliz grinned, his teeth lighting up like the fangs of a beast. He looked to the cage and leaned against it.
"So, was "Red" coming by to say hello?" he asked mockingly at the animal in the cage. The monkey let out a few chipping sounds that the X-Men could barely hear from their spot.
"Oh, don't give me that shit," Maliz hissed angrily at the animal, slamming a knuckled fist against the metal bars with full force. The echo of the blow and the monkey's surprised cry rang through the air, "Talk to me, you lousy freak!"
A few seconds of silence passed and it was possible for a few of the mutants to see that something appeared inside the cage. It must have spoken, because Maliz looked pleased for a moment.
"Just some kids, huh?" he replied. His voice was lower, more controlled now, "And they just wanted to see the little monkey… how cute. Go back to the tiger; it'll look better as we go."
Maliz turned around and walked to the driver's side of the wagon. He opened the door, got in and slammed it shut, the engine of the truck coming to life with a coughing sound.
"So he knows," Scott glared at the wagon angrily. Beast had been right – he only needed one cage since he had a mutant that could do more than one act. It quite honestly disgusted him.
"Well, we have to do something, he's getting away," Kitty said, stepping out of their hiding place.
Wolverine, sneered, turning his head.
"Get to the X-Van."