Kurt was getting angry.
He'd been stuck in this place for nearly a week now and it was driving him mad. He growled at the intercom, "Let me go!" but he never got an answer. Ever since his 'demonstration' with the newbie, they'd basically left him alone, sliding food in when he was asleep.
Today seemed like all the others. Kurt woke up, yelled at the unresponsive intercom, ate the breakfast that had been pushed in while he slept, and then lay on his bed, fiddling with his tail to pass the time. Growling, he sat up and tried the intercom again, pounding on it. But still, nothing happened. Kurt huffed and sat on the foot of the bed, tail twitching in aggravation. His only companion was the constant humming of the building around him. 'Must be some big machines here' Kurt thought to himself.
But suddenly his ears perked up. The humming sounded different. It sounded more… metallic.
Suddenly the ceiling exploded, raining down bits of metal, plaster and glass. Kurt's first instinct was to 'port, but when he started it, he felt the warning buzz of that electric current. Not wanting to pass out and be at the mercy of the falling scraps, he did the next best thing he could think of; he quickly crawled under the bed. Just as his tail slid underneath the wooden frame, a bit of shrapnel the size of a ruler sliced down right where he had been sitting. Kurt shivered. That would have killed him. He hid under the bed, wondering what on earth was going on as the humming got louder and so did the sounds of chaos around him.
Suddenly though, everything went still.
Kurt, who had curled up defensively, relaxed enough to peek. There was a sheet of metal blocking his view, so he hesitantly crawled out of his hiding place and looked around, stunned. It was like a bomb had gone off. Metal, wood, plastic, glass and debris littered the ground and the ceiling was utterly destroyed, revealing blue sky. Kurt was tempted to climb up and 'port his fuzzy tail far away from this place, realizing that the collar had fallen off sometime during the cave-in, but something made him pause.
Namely the cloaked man hovering two feet of the ground in front of him.
Kurt instantly went into a fighting stance, bent over and ready to pouch, saying coldly and a tad nervously, "Magneto."
The metal mutant, however, didn't seem at all uneasy. Well, considering he was surrounded by metal, Kurt bet that Magneto was feeling pretty darn powerful right now. Magneto floated to the ground and took off his helmet, saying pleasantly, "Nightcrawler. I trust you are not injured?"
Kurt paused, confused. He had expected the older mutant to attack him or threaten him or something of that nature. Having his well-being questioned was the last thing he'd expected. Confused, Kurt answered slowly, "Um… no. I'm fine. Why do you care?" he finished with a bark.
Magneto then said softly in his deep voice, "Pietro was bothered by some foggy memory in his head and went to see Jean for a 'quick-fix', as is his way."
Kurt's yellow eyes got really, really big.
"They know everything, Nightcrawler."
Half of Kurt was watchful for the smallest sign of any metal levitating into the air while the other half realized the implications of what Magneto had said. Kurt bent over a little, muttering, "Gott…"
The metallic mutant walked forwards a little, holding out a gloved hand, saying, "I offer you a hand of friendship."
Kurt climbed nimbly away from Magneto, not trusting him, answering sharply, "I already have one."
Magneto laughed, saying in a suddenly cold voice, "Did you not listen? They KNOW. They won't accept you now."
The blue teleporter, about ten feet from freedom, paused, answering brokenly as his own thoughts raged in his mind, "Sc-Scott will! He's my best friend!"
"Is he? How sure are you of his loyalty?"
The deep metallic voice made Kurt wince in indecision, tail swishing back and forth in agitation. Kurt then shouted angrily as he put his hands over his pointed ears, "Stop it! You play mind games, but I'm not listening! Just back off!" He then lowered his hands and narrowed his yellow eyes, hissing, "Or I'll show you my new power."
"Very well, Nightcrawler." Magneto chuckled darkly. He then put his helmet back on, and said while levitating a small object towards Kurt, "But if you find yourself in a bad situation, let me know." The object was a small sphere with a button on it, simple and straightforwards.
But Kurt didn't take it, and it fell to the floor, clinking gently against the debris. He just stared at Magneto, indecision boiling in his eyes. Magneto then floated out of the destroyed room. Kurt waited until he was dead sure the older mutant was gone before scaling the wreckage up towards freedom. His head popped up into warm sunshine and he breathed deep of fresh air.
But as he was about to crawl out, he glanced back down into the destroyed room. The tiny sphere lay innocently among the wreckage, looking like a diamond in the rough. Or a shiny thorn on a rose stem. Kurt paused, looking up at the sky, then down at the sphere.
Hesitating…
Scott was in the kitchen, moodily eating breakfast. Ever since he'd walked out of the medical bay the day before, Jean had kept quiet around him. At least verbally. Her thoughts kept whispering in his head, though purely unintentionally. Right now, though, she was sleeping and he was the only one in his skull. He thought back to the day before.
Pietro and Jean had seemed so earnest. Could it be they were telling the truth? No. No it wasn't possible. Kurt was all fur and no fangs. He had trouble squashing spiders in his room, for God's sake! To say that Kurt had the guts to kill someone, let alone by cannibalism, was too farfetched for Scott to even begin believing. But then again, Kurt did keep a lot of things to himself…
No! Stop that! Scott ordered himself harshly. He drowned a few Cheerios in his milk, sighing deeply as they just popped up again, mimicking his thoughts. It just wasn't possible. Kurt was a fuzz-ball: harmless and cute. Heck, Kurt was more likely to 'attack' a soda than someone else!
Suddenly Scott heard a soft mutter in his brain and sighed, saying loudly, "Jean."
She peeked from around the door guiltily, saying, "You heard me?"
Scott tapped the side of his head with his finger, saying, "You're loud this morning."
The psychic sat down opposite him and for a while, a tense silent floated between him. Scott finished his cheerios and was drinking the milk when Jean said softly, "Scott. If you would just…"
Scott sighed and then said tersely, "No."
Jean sighed, saying, "Please? One look. I want you to understand."
The laser-eyed teen put the bowl down, saying coldly, "Understand what? For all we know, Mastermind cooked this up and plugged it into the Pietro's brain to get Kurt in trouble."
Jean shook her head, unconsciously holding herself tightly, muttering, "No. I could tell. This was a real memory, Scott. It really happened." She then shivered, saying, "I don't think we can trust Kurt anymore."
Scott lifted the bowl again, muttering darkly, "Everyone said the same thing about Rogue."
She then looked at him, irritation and thinning patience clear in her voice as she said, "This is different, Scott. Any injuries Rogue caused was by sheer accident. Kurt knew what he was doing. And he did it anyway."
He then said from behind the bowl, "Jean. I won't believe it. Kurt's a great guy and…"
Jean suddenly barked, "Scott, please don't be stubborn!"
Scott grew stiff and then slammed the bowl down, standing as he ranted, "Oh, I'm stubborn? How am I being stubborn? I'm not the one pressing another to relive someone else's memory!"
Jean, a tad shocked by his outburst, sat still while Scott remained standing, glaring down at her. Jean then said softly, "But why?" Scott sighed and turned from her in irritation as Jean's eyes got wide as she said quietly, "You don't want to hate him."
The other mutant spun around, angry at having his thoughts read, replying hotly, "Of course I don't!"
The psychic then stared at him in astonishment, saying, "Scott… You think I'm right."
Scott shouted loudly, "No!" but his inner voices said different.
She then said softly, apologetically, "Psychic, Scott."
He glared at her all the more, his visor seeming to be brimming with red energy just asking to be released. Scott then waved a hand at her dismissingly and stomped out of the kitchen, angry red thoughts staining the air, leaving a saddened Jean behind.
Scott was out on the terrace, trying to organize his thoughts. It was a vicious cyclone inside his skull and he couldn't think clearly. It was annoying. He heard a rush of air and Pietro appeared next to him, looking more like his normal, hyper self. He instantly lounged on the railing, blocking Scott's view, asking childishly, "Watcha doing?"
Scott moved to an unoccupied bit of railing, answering tensely, "Thinking."
The speed demon didn't get the hint and zipped over to be in front of him again, asking, "About what?" Scott glared at him, but didn't reply.
Pietro sneered at him and then looked out over the grounds. Man, these x-geeks had it good. Suddenly Pietro froze and a look of terror flashed over his face. In one second, he zipped to Scott and latched himself tightly to the laser-eyed teen, whimpering. Scott was surprised and bothered, saying harshly as he tried top pry the other mutant off of his chest, "What the-? GET OFF!"
"He's back!" Pietro yelped and hugged tighter.
Scott was planning on giving Pietro just a little blast to dislodge him, but paused, hand on his glasses as he asked in confusion, "What?"
Pietro looked at him, blue eyes wide as he shouted fearfully, "HE'S BACK!" and then zipped off, leaving a light breeze in his wake.
To say the least, Scott was extremely confused. He looked up at the main gate and say something blue vault over it and start running to the institute on all fours. Scott's heart leapt as he whispered, "Kurt?" The figure suddenly vanished with a blast of smoke and Scott ran downstairs to find Kurt already in the kitchen, panting.
The blue mutant looked up at him and gasped out with a smile, "Scott! Oh man, am I glad to see you!"
Scott enveloped the other in a grateful hug, asking worriedly, "Where on earth have you been? I've been worried sick!"
Kurt squirmed out of his grasp and Scott realized Kurt was only wearing pants. He then said, "I got kidnapped! Can you believe it?"
Scott's worry-meter went up a few more notches as he asked, "How'd you get out?"
The blue mutant grinned, baring his fangs, as he answered, "I can 'port, Scott. Nothing can hold me!"
Scott then looked him over, asking, "You hurt?"
"Nope. I'm fine." Kurt replied easily. He went to the fridge and opened it, asking, "But I'm starving. Did you guys eat lunch yet?"
"Kurt?" Jean's soft voice brought both boys to a halt.
Kurt's eyes lit up and he said in relief, "Jean! Oh good! You're awake! You feel okay now?"
But Jean wasn't as happy and asked very, very softly, "What have you done?"
Kurt paused, asking, "What?"
A white-haired head peeked into the kitchen and Kurt said in confusion, "Pietro?"
"I read his mind, Kurt." Jean said softly. Pietro walked into the kitchen standing behind Jean.
There was a very long uncomfortable silence before Kurt said softly, "And?"
"Why did you come back here?" Jean asked, her voice quiet.
Kurt then replied evenly, "I live here."
Jean was about to disagree, but Scott stepped forwards and gripped Kurt's arm, saying firmly, "Yes. You do." and began to lead him out of the kitchen.
(Scott. We can't trust him.) The voice in his head was soft, pleading him to listen.
Scott turned around and glared at the redhead, saying angrily, "Get out of my head, Jean." He walked Kurt to the door of the kitchen and then turned back, saying with end-of-discussion tone, "And stay out." and walked out.