Come What May: Chapter 3
I also apologize for the mangling of all accents; I'm not going to put much effort into it, anyways because they (especially Piotr's) are incredibly hard to write and to read.
~Saturday~
"Vacation? What do you mean vacation?" The mutant known as Pyro blanched.
"I mean--," Magneto repeated slowly, "Go away, I'm leaving on private matters and will return in three days. Go do what you wish but be back at base when I return. Magneto stormed out sending ripples through the metal base walls.
"Not much of a vacation, a flight back to Australia is fourteen hours!"
Pyro's comment was meant with expressions of surprise and in Remy's case amusement, "That is if I was allowed to go back to Australia" Pyro backtracked grinning sheepishly.
"So three days of porn and junk food?" Remy joked.
"Yup." said Pyro with complete honesty.
"What 'bout you Petey?" Remy turned asking the quiet Russian.
"I 'ave novere to go. I vill stay here with John and make sure he does not burn down the base."
Remy nodded, he did not need to use his empathy to know this was not a good time to poke fun at the big guy.
"Okay well auvior homes, I'm off to the Big Apple."
The stale dread of Monday filled the kitchen as the latecomers trudged into the dinning room. And this Monday was particularly different; every teenager shared a mutual panic. It was the first school day after the exposure of mutants.
It was breakfast at the Xavier Institute. It was a unique time that any anthropologist or sociologist would have found fascinating. It was, as it was everyday, a chaotic mass of movement, making the mansion's Victorian kitchen resemble a beehive.
A small line headed by Rogue formed at the coffee maker, watching intently as it finished brewing.
Jean, who was the only student who seemed to be a morning person, was chatting excitedly to Scott, who, Rogue noted, seemed to be half asleep.
Evan and Ray almost collided en route to the fridge.
Jamie fumbled and dropped his strawberry pop tart to the tiled floor, where it was promptly step on by a frantic Kitty. Kitty never came down until she was completely ready, so the students who were awake enough to notice were shocked to see her hair-dripping wet. Her hair dryer had broken, and she was on a desperate quest to find one.
Sam stood at the microwave, mentally complaining that instant oatmeal was false advertisement.
"Alright, I'm heading out! Anyone want a ride?" Scott called checking his watch.
Jean nodded, and several unenthused hands also rose into the air.
"Wait for me!" Kurt called.
"We are not stopping for a breakfast burger." Scott said sternly but with a surprising trace of humor.
Bobby and Amara claimed the remaining seats in Scott's convertible.
Rogue coffee in hand prepared as she did everyday to walk to school. She turned down rides everyday always preferring to walk. The morning was cool and a light mist rose of the neighboring ocean, it gave her a chance to relax, think and to quiet down the voices that constantly prattled away in her mind.
As eight o'clock drew closer the Xavier Institute became more and more deserted. As the kids left for school the adults emerged and headed for the kitchen for their own breakfast.
Logan grumbled as he put on another pot of coffee, 'how many times do I have to ask them to start another pot before they go?'
"Pietro? P-ie-tro?!?" John called, as if calling to a child. He bounded down the hallway toward their newest team member's room. "Pee—a-tro?" he called again before barging into the room, which he noted sourly, was larger than his room. "I need to borrow your copy of Moulin Rouge."
The room was empty, "Hey Speedy? You home?"
No answer.
John saw that the closet door was ajar, "Are you in the closet?" he began to laugh at his joke, "Duh." What straight man has hair like Pietro?
The pyromaniac opened the door to find in it not only Pietro-less but his uniform and mission gear were also absent.
"Okay I tried to be polite," he told himself as he stalked to the speed demons bookshelf, he pulled Moulin Rouge from the shelf, knocking several other DVDs to the floor.
Pyro movie in hand left the room.
The hallway buzzed excitedly as it did every time something scandalous happened. It reminded Kitty of the time a freshmen caught Principal Kelly macking with a substitute teacher in the library.
But that happened last year; they were talking about something else. They were taking LA and the mutants.
Although this "buzz" had a new accusatory tone that she knew was directed at everyone. No one was spared from sidelong glances and glares; students were beginning their very own which hunt.
Kitty smiled at Kurt and headed to her group of friends who had gathered at a small cluster of lockers.
"Hey Sara, Amy. What's up?" Kitty chirped as she opened her locker and removed her favorite lip-gloss.
"We were just talking about the super powered freaks in LA." Amy blurted.
Kitty smacked her lips and stared satisfactorily at her locker mirror. "Yeah, that was so weird, I wonder if there are any other of them around here." Kitty pulled out her AP calc book, and Sara cracked a smile.
"You are such a nerd." Sara joked nodding to the AP calc book.
"Yeah I know. I wish I was in regular math, there are absolutely no attractive guys in AP."
"Yup, that's cause they're all in algebra 2 with me!"
"Yeah Kitty's right, there's got to be more of the super powered people," Amy said returning to the mutant subject. "I wonder who?"
Kitty snorted "Duncan Matthews? How else would a goon like that be popular?" she joked but inwardly she cringed, by taking the offense she had done something awful, she had started a rumor, a false one just to protect herself.
"What about that huge kid Fred?"
"I don't think being morbidly obese counts as a superpower."
The bell rang.
"Kurt!" Amanda called. Checking her watch as she caught up to her usually incredibly tardy boyfriend. "Holy hell, you're on time. What's wrong?" She joked. Then in an undertone "How you holding up?"
"Alright." Kurt sighed and placed his arm around her waist and kissed her gently on the temple. "Sorry I didn't return your call yesterday."
"It's no problem. I understand."
Together they walked linked down the crowded hall.
They finally separated and walked into their shared first hour. AP US history, they took their seats giving each other one last glance before their attention was forcibly directed toward the overworked and underpaid teacher.
There was a pop quiz; the name, order, term years and party of every US president up to Nixon. Kurt didn't think he had done very well, "I am not even from this damn country." He rationalized quietly.
"Hey, Kurt." Tom White, who sat in front of him, turned around in his seat, "What's the story of that school of yours?"
"It's a school for gifted students." Kurt answered immediately.
"But what kind of gifted?"
Kurt was impressed at the normalness of his voice as he answered, "Umm, some are incredibly intelligent, like Kitty, she's a sophomore and top student in AP Calc, others have incredibly important or powerful parents, so I guess that counts as the gift of money. Rahne is an amazing dancer and Rogue is a wonderful artist."
"And you?"
"Important parents. And I am a foreigner, it makes the school look better to have such a diverse student body."
Tom turned forward when the teacher glared at the private conversation going on. Kurt immediately felt relieved but somehow he could tell that Tom was not completely satisfied with his answer.
Piotr's phone buzzed suddenly against his leg causing him to make a rather ugly dark red stripe across what should have been a beautiful depiction of sunset over St. Petersburg.
Cursing in his native tongue, he reached for his cell.
He had a voicemail.
He hastily pressed the button, if John locked himself in the bathroom again, he thought, I will leave him there.
But it was not John's voice. The quality of the message was poor but it was unmistakably from Pietro.
"This is Quicksilver something is wrong. My father is missing."
"Followed him to Los------------" The connection broke and static clouded Pietro's next words. Piotr hadn't been aware that Quicksilver had left.
"Ambushed--------"
"Think---captured" Magneto captured?
"Now following me-------"
Next all Piotr could hear was the dial tone.
He shut his phone and put the cap on his paint. He stood and went to find John.
With coffee in hand Logan answered the professor's request to come to his office. Logan was not surprised to find the room already occupied by the rest of the senior team.
"Come in Logan" Charles gestured elegantly to the only remaining empty seat.
"Is this about the mission? Why haven't we gone yet Chuck? The mutants could be dead already."
"They are still alive. I can tell that much. But something is keeping any information about their location is being kept from me."
"Can't we just go check out the scene of the crime? And see where it leads us?"
"Logan be rational, the scene is crawling with reporters and army personal. Plus they have been moved already California is a very large place where would you start?" Beast who was clearly exhausted answered.
Storm picked up, "Charles and Beast are working on it, they have a list of government holdings, only three of them have the proper medical facilities. We are just waiting on the electric records to confirm which one is currently being used."
"Logan there is someone at the door, will you go let our guests in?"
The doorbell rang echoing loudly throughout the first floor. Logan who was very used to this nodded and made for the monitor by the front door, to see who was waiting at the gate.
The two men who waited couldn't be more different. The larger one stood erect like a soldier waiting patiently for orders. The other one was small and scrawny with orange hair and appeared nervous and very suspicious.
Logan stared at the monitor and growled as recognition set in.
'It's okay. Logan, they are here to talk. Let them in.' Charles assured him.
"Petey? Why are we here?"
"Because if Magneto is captured, we have nowhere to go and no chance of rescue."
"Can't we just leave him?"
"Nein."
"Why? Then we'd be free-ish?"
"You know why that is impossible."
Pyro remembered and nodded solemnly cringing that he had unwittingly forced his friend to think of such painful memories. "But why the X-men? They're so lame! With those matching uniforms which look so cheap, they are soo just cheap spandex-"
"John be quiet." The light on the monitor changed from red to green and the gate swung open.
"Okay."
Logan watched intently as the two men returned to their vehicle and drove the remainder of the driveway parking right in front of the school's double doors.
After they clambered out, they stood for a moment awkwardly Piotr reached out a hand to shake the Wolverine. Logan did not move to take it. Piotr let his hand drop to his side and cleared his throat. Pyro who was currently trying to pull a loose thread from his sweater and only succeeded in making the thread longer and making a small whole in it. He had this frustrated look on his face and he reached for his lighter, most likely to burn the thread off, but before he could do anything the gigantic Russian smacked the lighter to the ground. Pyro looked as if Piotr had just smacked a puppy.
"We are here to talk to Professor Xavier. Is he in?"
"Yup. Follow me. And no funny business. Got it?" He snarled.
John looked around in awe at the beautiful foyer comparing it to the drab metal walls of the base he had been forced to call home for the last three years.
The hallway was long, carpeted and decorated with art that seemed far too expensive (and flammable) to be in a school.
The short hairy X-men opened a door and beckoned them inside and closed it loudly behind them.
Pyro looked around at the oldest x-men members, they looked strange in normal clothes but they all still managed to look intimidating.
John was relieved that Piotr was going to do all of the talking.
"Sir, I believe that Magneto has been captured. We need to get him back and we have no where else to turn."
"May I probe your mind to see what you know?"
Piotr nodded.
A moment later and the Professor spoke again.
"I think our two missions are related." Charles backtracked, "Magneto went to California, his son followed him. It sounds as though Erik has been betrayed by someone. I think we will find Magneto when we find the other captured mutants. Would you two like to accompany our rescue mission?"
Piotr nodded.
Three hours later Storm, Logan, Beast, Pyro and Colossus sat strapped in the X-Jet on their way to Nevada. The information regarding the government power usage came through and was cross referenced with the call received from Pietro.
John leaned across the aisle and poked the airsick Colossus.
"Did you know his name was Erik?"
He snorted, "Nope"
They reached Nevada three hours later. By then dusk had fallen which in addition to the clouds provided by Storm provided excellent cover.
The building half of which seemed completely decimated was much larger than they could have anticipated.
The group of former enemies stood in front of a highly charged and intently monitored fence.
"Any ideas?" Beast asked.
"Just one." Storm answered hoisting up Logan without any warning and flew over the fence dropping him before returning for Beast. Colossus following Storm's lead grabbed Pyro and threw him high in the air and over the fence where he crashed to the ground rather ungracefully.
"I would move if I was you." Colossus bent low crouching and then proceeded to launch himself over.
"We will need to move. Someone will have heard that." Beast advised as the ground trembled under Piotirs enormous weight.
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