Hank had heard from Raven about the new professor downstairs but he hadn't felt the need to introduce himself yet. Raven had told him about the collar, which didn't help with Hanks' uneasiness towards the new neighbour. Hank didn't have a mutation that was easily hidden but while he had invented a serum that allowed him to appear normal the results were varying and from what he'd heard about Charles Xavier, Hank didn't think the other man would be overly thrilled at finding out about Hank's blue and furry mutation. Which was why he was surprised to find himself in the Professor's rooms that night.
Raven had gone out for the night and while she had invited hank, the young scientist didn't like to go out to the places Raven did. He'd been silently reading when he heard a loud bang coming from the first floor. Silently at first, Hank had crept down the stairs, curious about where the sound had come from. Usually he'd blame it one Sean or Alex but the two were out and anyway it had come from the ground floor. Quickly, Hank ruled out Logan leaving only the new neighbour.
He was acutely aware of the blue fur covering his body as he knocked at Charles' front door. It was a moment before Charles answered the door. The first thing Hank noticed was that Charles was in a wheelchair, which Raven hadn't mentioned. Charles looked like he was used to it as he wasn't struggled so Hank wondered how long he'd been in it. The second thing he saw was the collar that stood strikingly against the pale skin of the other mutant.
Charles' eyes had gone a little wide at the sight of Hank, making the scientist feel a little self-conscious. "Sorry, I heard a bang."
A blush made its' way up Charles' face when Hank said that. "Oh, erm sorry for disturbing you."
"That's fine." Hank quickly said, feeling a little guilt at causing Charles to think he'd done something wrong. "Raven's gone out for the night so do you want to…" he trailed off there, not sure as to why he was saying that.
"Do you want to come in? I have coffee or you could just…." Charles seemed equally unsure of himself.
"Coffee would be great, thanks. If you don't mind."
…
Charles didn't mind. In fact he was extremely curious about the blue, furred man at his doorway. "I'm Charles Xavier by the way." He said as he made the coffee.
"Hank McCoy." The other man introduced himself and Charles smiled a little at him. Hank seemed nervous, almost as nervous as Charles himself felt so he decided he would try to make the younger man feel more comfortable. "Raven says you're a Professor." Charles was sure that wasn't all Raven had said but he nodded anyway. "I'm a Doctor."
That perked Charles' interest as he asked what hank specialised in. Soon the two were talking rapidly about science, there previous nervousness gone. "So you and Raven are dating?" Charles asked, the conversation of science having run its' coarse a little. That and he was generally curious.
"Yeah." Hank replied and Charles grinned at that. "She's the first person to not mind the…"
"The blue fur." Charles supplied, feeling guilty when Hank ducked his head in embarrassment. "No wonder she doesn't mind it, it's quite spectacular."
"I made a serum that makes me look normal." Hank suddenly said and Charles frowned, his thoughts going to the hospitals and tests that were done to control his mutation. "It doesn't affect my abilities just makes me look normal." Charles nodded his head in understanding. He may not be covered in blue fur but he did have his own problems in the form of the chair that made everyone see him as someone who needed help and the collar that kept most people away.
Finally, they had to call it a night but the two promised to meet up again at some point. Charles had actually enjoyed the company, especially talking with someone who was interested in the same things as he was.
He fell asleep with a smile on his lips that night but he should have known his good mood was too good to last.
….
Erik had been on the track of a one of the mutant experiment labs for around a month now and had finally found the exact place it was. Closing the shop earlier than usual was easy enough, though getting a hold of the mutants willing to help was a little harder. Eventually, Alex, Sean, Raven, Darwin (a college friend of Alex and Sean's'), Hank and Azazel (a teleporting mutant who had started working for Erik when Shaw was killed) where standing in the staff room of the café.
In truth, Erik had been a little out of sorts ever since meeting Charles Xavier and this attack would be a welcome distraction from those thoughts. He hadn't directly asked any of the kids about Charles but he had listened when Charles was the topic of their conversation. Erik had been debating on whether to ask them why Charles hadn't been near the café since the first time but decided against it.
"Boss?" Azazel's voice pulled Erik from his thoughts and he turned to the red mutant.
"We know what we have to do?" Erik asked, getting conformation from the group of mutants in front of him. There couldn't be any mistakes.
….
Azazel teleported them to just outside of the facility while Erik sent Raven in ahead. The blue mutants' job was to get them access, something her gift was uniquely brilliant for. It didn't take 5 minutes for her to open the doors and the group of mutants went inside. Erik and Azazel took care of the guards while the younger mutants released those captured. Hank especially was invaluable in dealing with the more seriously injured kids.
Erik felt the metal hum around him as the guards shot there metal bullets. It was almost laughable how easy it was for him to deflect them away. An alarm went off somewhere in the building but by now it would be too late. In the distance he could hear the scrambling feet of mutants being freed and new that that job was done.
Between himself and Azazel, they finished off the guards and scientists in record time. Walking into the research lab, Erik had a sudden thought of being a child stuck in Shaw's lab again but he quickly pushed it aside. There wasn't any point in dwelling in the past.
"Mystique found something." Alex told Erik when they entered the room. Hank was working on a few injured mutants and Erik motioned for Azazel to teleport those injured to a hospital, preferably a hundred miles away from here.
When he was done with this, he walked into the office where Raven was standing. There were dead bodies littering the floor and Erik saw that a number of them weren't human but mutants. It was saddening to see and only made his anger higher, especially when he saw the body of dead child lying among the soldiers.
"Havoc said you found something." Erik said as he surveyed the room. It was just like any doctor's office, though with a few more lethal looking tools and far too many books.
"The Doctor wasn't here but I got a name." Erik nodded, thinking of how he could track this man down and hurt him. "His name's Mark Warren." She was reading through a personnel file as she said this.
"Any family?" Erik asked.
"A son named Christopher Warren." Raven replied, flicking onto a page that must detail the mans' family. Her eyes widened a little as she read on, however, peaking Erik's interest. "Apparently he remarried though and his new wife died in an accident."
"What was her name?" Erik was wondering why Raven was mentioning this, it wasn't like they usually checked on all of the human doctors' family.
"Alice Xavier Warren. Her son is Charles Xavier."
"As in the Charles that lives in the building?" Erik asked, unbelievingly. He knew next to nothing about Charles but hearing his name crop up in the search of a doctors' office, a doctor who experimented on mutants no less, was surprising and not a little disturbing considering the situation with the suppression collar. "What happened to the mother?"
"It doesn't say." Raven replied and Erik couldn't help but be a little disappointed.
"Could I have the file." Ravel handed it to him wordlessly. "Don't mention this to the others." "
"Not even Hank?" Erik shook his head.
"It's best if we keep it to ourselves until we know more." Erik replied, thankful when Raven agreed. He was still a little shocked, knowing this seemed to make so much of Charles' actions understandable. Resolving to talk to the other mutant at some point, Erik followed Raven out of the office, still clutching the file in his hand.
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