Chapter 54: Oktoberfest

After the President delivered his speech following the X-Men saving a town from being flooded away, it would be an understatement for people to assume that the population was apprehensive about having to accept that Mutants were people they had to live alongside. But for the most part, the vast majority of people were slowly coming around to just treating Mutants like normal, others on the other hand were either refusing to serve them or things of that nature. Simply put? It was civil rights era America all over again.

Now, it was mid October. It was a struggle for the X-Men to rebuild the Institute, and it was even harder to live elsewhere for the duration of the process, but they had help from SHIELD and Xanatos Enterprises to make the process move faster. As an added bonus, while the woods surrounding the construction site were being combed for debris, Gavin's coffin was discovered to not only have survived the blast and get launched into the woods, but Brownie and Mr. T had taken refuge in it to survive. Gavin and Chelsea were overjoyed when they learned of the survival of their pets.

"I still have absolutely no idea how those two managed to get inside your coffin." The blonde Dragoness stated in disbelief as she sat next to Gavin on a couch.

"I had a special door placed on my coffin for Brownie to use to get inside in case of an emergency. He must've picked up on what was going on and went inside. I think the same can be said for Mr. T now." Gavin mused while he held Brownie close, letting the little mammal listen to his heartbeat.

"Well I'm just glad that he's okay." Chelsea nodded as she also held Mr. T.

It was around this time that both Sever siblings entered their temporary abode with Romano, Marcus and Logan right behind them, each carrying with them a pair or two of cases or six packs of various beers and ales.

"Okay, where do we wanna put these?" Katerina asked.

"Preferably somewhere the underage kids of the place won't find them." Logan replied.

"Um, what's going on?" Gavin asked with Chelsea wondering the same while eyeing the collection of booze with an eager gleam in her eye.

"It's Oktoberfest this week." The eldest of the siblings told him.

"Oktoberfest?! Hell yeah! I love that holiday!" Chelsea exclaimed in delight. Booze based holidays were like Christmas for her, so naturally, she took to the German holiday with gusto.

"Yeah, and with all the political crap we went through and what's happening right now, I'd say we deserve a chance to unwind." Romano said with a smile.

"Hooooold IT!" Gavin said before pointing at his surrogate sister. "You can't be drinking, remember? You have a baby inside you right now." He told her sternly.

"Seriously? Come on. Let me enjoy my favorite form of beverage." The blonde complained.

"I gotta agree with Gavin on this one, scales. Getting drunk while you're pregnant is a horrible idea." Logan commented.

"I have a healing factor like you guys. As long as I don't get to my version of wasted, I think I'll be fine." The woman retorted with a clear 'I'm not budging here' look as she folded her arms… Which was hard to take seriously when she had a two month pregnant belly on her. Johan looked at her for a moment before he sighed.

"Okay, fine. BUT…" He conceded before cutting off the Dragoness's cheer. "You're being supervised. Call me paranoid, but I'm not taking any chances. And I'm sure Logan agrees with me on that." He stated.

"Yeah. Besides, I know exactly how you get when you get drunk, and that's something we don't need around the kids." Logan agreed.

"Hey speaking of, how come we can't go to Hogan's?" The woman asked.

"He had to close the bar because of how tense things still are." Logan explained.

"Oof, that sucks." Gavin commented with a cringe.

"Yeah, let's hope things cool down soon. So I take it that you two are gonna act as the enforcers of the big mandates as they're passed?" Chelsea asked as Katerina and Romano started to put away the alcohol.

"Oh yeah. Me and Johan aren't gonna just stand by and do nothing while shit happens. If a crime against a mutant is carried out, we're gonna take action." The Cthulhu woman said seriously as Romano gave her another bottle to put away.

"Damn straight we are." The green streaked man nodded with a firm look on his face. "We're also gonna make sure that institutions, businesses and companies tow the line. We see so much as a hint of action with discrimination behind it, we ax the fuckers."

"They've also told Bayville restaurants, stores, and even the school that once the mandates are passed, there will be a no tolerance policy against discrimination. Anyone who goes against them will be arrested, shut down or unemployed." Gavin added. "I've been tasked with keeping an eye on Bayville High, particularly the teachers and principal Kelly. If they show any signs of poor attitude? I'll give Johan the evidence and they'll all lose their jobs."

"You guys do not fuck around." Marcus commented in a praising tone.

"No we don't." Johan nodded with a smirk.

"And if a human student of the school attempts to harm a mutant or damage property owned by a mutant?" Chelsea asked, wanting all the bases covered on this topic.

"As long as there's evidence connecting them to the crime? They're immediately thrown in jail for a maximum of nine months, three months if they make bail for an official trial." Katerina explained. The Dragoness snorted at that.

"Good luck to any and all saps who do that in trying to get their dream jobs with that blemish on their records." She joked, causing everyone to chuckle in amusement.

"And attempting to kill a mutant out of discrimination or intentionally committing malpractice or even refusing them needed medical attention or care is punishable with the same penalty as premeditated murder." Johan added as well.

"We're gonna show absolutely no mercy when it comes to enforcing these once they're passed next week." Gavin declared with a grin.

"Good." Bast, who had just entered the room said. "Great news guys, I'll be getting my medical degree next January."

"That's amazing news! Come here." Johan said with a smile before walking up to her and gave her a happy hug, which she returned with a smile.

"Great job, kitten!" Chelsea smiled.

"You earned it." Marcus and Romano nodded.

Meanwhile, Pele was listening with Kai at the other side of the room and then looked at the others.

"Okay so the stuff is in here." Pele told them.

"Which means all we gotta do is get Damian and have him help us get it when he gets back from his play date with Alex." Laura said as she looked at her watch.

"Wait, why do we need him?" Jamie asked, causing everyone to groan.

"Because of his photographic memory. If he gets a good look at where the stuff is hidden, he can lead us to it." Logan's daughter explained blandly.

"Since when did you know that?" The water controlling girl at the door asked.

"How do you guys think he gets out of his crib without using his powers at times?" Laura asked rhetorically, making everyone blink.

"... Huh. That actually explains it." Sam nodded after a moment.

(Elsewhere)

Gavin was doing his best to clean his coffin off, when he was suddenly startled by none other than Puck appearing right in front of him, the white haired and pointy eared trickster holding Damian in his arms as he stood on the coffin.

"Whoo! You would not believe what we've been through today!" Puck said as he adjusted his hold on the boy. "And you, you little blueberry, need to lose some weight, you're becoming quite heavy." He added as he handed Damian to his father as he got up.

"Hey, Puck. No real problems as usual, I assume?" The pseudo vampire asked as he took his son into his arms.

"Luckily. Though I must say Mr. Shirakumo, your son has got a very sharp mind for someone his age, and that's not even touching on how good his memory is! I honestly would have mistaken him for an elephant if he weren't already a baby." The fairy told him.

"Trust me, I've noticed. I can't even begin to count the number of times he's gotten out of his crib without his powers. Seriously, he actually remembers how the lock works. It's honestly amazing." Gavin nodded.

"That reminds me. Damian, why don't we show your father your new magical power?" Puck said to the baby. Damian giggled as he grabbed his favorite rattle and started shaking it. "Now, sir, give the boy a nice hard knock on the head." He told the pseudo vampire, who immediately looked hesitant.

"Are you sure that's a good idea…?" He asked warily. Puck nodded reassuringly and Gavin sighed before he gave Damian a good knock on the head, only for the baby to giggle as he shook his rattle at his father and the force of his own action was sent back at him with double the impact, knocking him over. As soon as Gavin recovered from his daze, he looked at his son in shock.

"What was that?!" He asked with wide eyes.

"That would be Damian's unique magical power. As long as he has an object in his hand, he can send any attack towards him back at the user with double the impact." Puck explained. Gavin looked at his son with amazement and pride in his eyes. He truly had an amazing son.

"I feel so proud right now." He said with a smile.

"And you should be. Now if you excuse, I have to get back to my other star pupil. Those two have really rubbed off on each other. Ta ta for now!" Puck smiled as he disappeared, leaving Gavin behind with his son.

(Later)

All the kids were now following Damian as the little guy led them to where the booze was stashed, and what was he getting in return for all this? Apparently some tasty snacks and his first time trying beer, pretzels and German sausages in one sitting. He may be a baby but he was smart enough to know that if free food was your reward? You take the job.

"Oh man, this is gonna be awesome." Bobby whispered with a grin. Oktoberfest always sounded fun to him, but he was always told that he was too young for it and to wait until he was older. He just couldn't wait.

"I still think giving Damian beer is the worst idea ever. If Gavin and Rogue find out we gave him booze, they'll kill us." Jubilee whispered in concern.

"We'd just give him a sip, how bad can it be?" Ray questioned as Damian suddenly stopped crawling and plopped down in front of the food storage locker that Xanatos Enterprises installed, and had stocked courtesy of their friend Broadway.

"Hey guys, what's up?" Someone asked, causing them to nearly jump out of their skins as they turned around and saw Peter Parker behind them.

"Peter! Don't scare us like that!" Laura hissed.

"Sorry, but what's going on?" He apologized before repeating himself.

"We're gonna sneak us a few drinks, care to join?" Roberto asked.

"Um…. Yeah, you know what? No thanks. I don't like having hangovers." Peter replied awkwardly. That was before he saw Damian sitting in front of the door. "Uh, what's a baby doing here?" He asked.

"Oh, he's the one that led us here." Laura replied with a shrug. "So, you still want out of this?" She asked.

"Yeah… Let me know how it goes." He nodded as he walked away slowly. The kids then started to attempt getting in, while Damian just watched while chewing on his teething ring.

(About five minutes later)

Chelsea was headed towards the storage locker to make sure no one was in it, when she saw a very sleepy Damian rubbing his eyes as he yawned, the other kids being nowhere in sight.

"What the-?" She muttered as she picked the little tyke up. "What are you doing all the way out here?" She asked him.

"Boo boo ptttt… *yawn*." He babbled before he yawned and nuzzled his head into her chest. Chelsea raised an eyebrow before she walked to Gavin's room to put him in his crib.

"Alright kiddo, nap time." She said as she tucked him in. As the boy gripped her finger with his little hand while he slowly fell asleep, the blonde smiled down at him. "Ya know, with a kid like you around for practice, maybe having a few kids won't be so bad after all." She said as she put his favorite stuffed tiger Hobbes next to him while he snuggled it and left.

Though as soon as she was away from the locker, Laura and the others came pouring out of it, most of them shivering like mad from the cold of said storage area.

"Th-th-th-th-th-th-this b-b-b-b-b-bet-tter be w-w-worth it." Sam said as he shivered. The only ones among them that remained unaffected were Bobby, Roberto, Amara, Pele and Rahne for obvious reasons.

"Heh heh, trust me, it will be." The ice man smirked.

(Later that night)

Everyone was finally able to settle in for the first party of the week and right now, almost everyone was drinking, except Bast and Ororo, who were sticking to just a couple of flavored sparkling waters.

Gavin, meanwhile, was having a light mixed drink of bourbon and coke while sharing a clown sundae, sausages and a few soft pretzels with Damian. The blue skinned baby was happily eating the food given to him by Rogue and his father.

"Alright Damian, here it comes, open wide sugah." Rogue cooed as she held up a spoonful of vanilla ice cream from the sundae. The blue skinned tyke did as his mom instructed and opened his mouth for the frozen treat. The southern belle gently placed the scoop in Damian's mouth, and he immediately swallowed it before letting out a happy giggle and started babbling, wanting more.

Chelsea was busy drinking with Logan and the Sever siblings while Romano and Marcus had a drinking and pretzel eating contest. When she saw Damian being fed pieces of pretzel and the other two treats, she couldn't help but look down at the growing embryo inside her.

'What Gavin and Rogue have is going to be me and Logan in a few months. Ugh, I can't wait.' She thought, feeling a sliver of anticipation enter her mind. She then leaned on Logan as she continued to drink. "Hey Logan… Do you think I'd actually make a good mom?" She asked him.

"What kind of question is that? Of course you will." Logan replied, feeling a little incredulous at the question. "What in the world is making you think otherwise?" He asked.

"My parents." She told him. "I'm just… Scared that I might end up being like them without even realizing it, like I think I'm doing something completely different than what they did, but in reality I'm just copying them. I'm really worried that might happen to any of our kids, not just this one."

She then felt not just Logan's hand on her shoulder, she felt Johan's and Katerina's as well. She looked and saw them giving her comforting smiles.

"You don't have to worry. You've got us to help you along if you end up struggling." The green eyed cyborg said assuringly.

"Yeah. You've got nothing to worry about. We got your back." Katerina nodded.

"You heard them, Chels. We're right here if you need us." Logan told her as he pulled her close.

The blonde sighed as she leaned on his shoulder. "Thanks guys." She said before she slowly started to bury her face into Logan's shoulder and slowly started to cry.

"Mood swing." Logan and Johan sighed, this kind of behavior had been happening a little earlier than most women with her because of her higher hormone levels.

With Bast and Ororo, they were having small talk as they enjoyed their sparkling drinks.

"Do you think anyone is going to accept you as a nurse as things are now?" The weather witch asked.

"At normal clinics? Doubtful, but luckily I'm pretty sure Dr. Marks is more than willing to let me work for him, given his current occupation. Though I do have a feeling that most places will have much of a choice given how no nonsense these mandates are gonna be in a couple weeks." The cat woman shrugged, sipping her drink.

"And when you consider who's going to be in charge of enforcing them?" Ororo chuckled as she glanced at the Sever siblings and Gavin. "I think we're in safe hands." She added with a smile. Bast followed her gaze and smirked.

"That we are." She nodded, though her gaze did linger on Johan.

"Still though, I have a feeling that things won't improve overnight as intended, if past events with such things are anything to go by." The woman sighed, Bast nodding in agreement before they continued drinking.

"Uh… Guys? I'm noticing that we're missing a few containers of Miller Lite and a few other beers." Scott said as he was looking for the rest of stuff.

"What? How'd that happen?" Gavin asked as he scratched his head in confusion. Rogue, meanwhile, paused in what she was doing before she groaned and facepalmed. There was only one thing she could come up with right now that explained the missing booze.

"Ah think Ah know…" She spoke up.

Elsewhere in a giant igloo created by Bobby in the middle of the woods, everyone was literally chilling in it on furniture made of ice and drinking. How much? They were drinking like it was the end of the world, they were like dogs without horses they were running wild. They were all drinking like it was the civil war and the doctor was coming to saw their legs off… So the party was going great.

"Man, this is awesome. And they tried to keep this away from us? What's wrong with them?" Sam asked after chugging a can of Miller and crashing into the wall, feeling a little incredulous at the fact the older members of the Institute tried to keep them away from the booze.

"I told ya this was a good idea." Bobby said before he drunkenly tripped and froze Roxy's tail by mistake.

"Hey, watch it!" She snapped.

"Wheee!" Pele and Kai cheered as they started spraying lava and water all over the place.

"Hey, careful! You'll trash the igloo!" Ray exclaimed in slight alarm.

Off to the side, Rahne was of course not drinking because of her religious background, and was of course the first to notice that Laura was also not drunk because of her healing factor despite drinking six six packs. Both girls groaned at the antics of the rest of the kids as Jamie started arm wrestling with Peter, Amara was collapsed on the ground and Roberto was standing in a corner with a solo cup in hand.

That was when they noticed the police drive up to the igloo. "Hey guys, the police are here!" Rahne called, only for something outrageous to happen as an officer came in.

"FUCK DA POLICE!" Roberto started yelling… And everyone else started joining in. A sea of toddlers yelling fuck the police in his face. The officer that came in just facepalmed.

"What even is this…?" He muttered to himself. That was when he noticed the booze. "... Now everything suddenly makes sense." He muttered again. He then reached for his radio. "Get the paddy wagon!" He said.

That's when Ray noticed this. He then grabbed a forty, raised it and then shattered it on the ground and yelled. "SCATTER!" then everyone ran in different directions, like in Ratatouille when the rats saw the humans.

"Oh for the love of- Everyone, chase 'em down!" The one officer ordered.

Back at the Institute, the people who were actually of age were far from pleased with what they just noticed.

"How did they even know where to look? The only person who might've known was…" Gavin said before he looked at Damian in his booster seat eating another soft pretzel and sucking the salt and cheese sauce off his thumb, said sauce all over his face. "... Nevermind." He sighed.

"Those kids are in so much trouble for this one." Logan growled lightly to avoid scaring Damian.

"Let's focus on finding them for now. We can worry about punishing them afterwards." The eldritch woman of the group inputted.

"No need, look." Marcus said as he pointed out the window and saw all the kids attempting to climb the fence placed around the Institute's temporary replacement structure.

"Please tell me they didn't piss off the police…" Johan groaned... Only for several cruisers to drive past the driveway luckily not noticing where the kids went. "... Dammit." He facepalmed with a groan.

"Was that… A paddy wagon?" Bast asked in disbelief.

"Laura is so grounded after we deal with this…!" Chelsea growled angrily.

"I must admit though, using an escape artist like Damian to get into the storage unit was a fair stroke of genius on their part." Xavier admitted.

"If a bit stupid." Devin nodded.

"Come on, let's go berate them for being stupid." Scott said casually as he walked out.

'How does he say that so casually?' Everyone thought. As they walked outside, they soon found that all of the other kids were blacked out drunk, and clearly not very conscious if at all. The only ones that were sober looked to be Rahne and Laura.

"Care to do some explaining girls?" Chelsea asked with folded arms, which again, made it hard for her to be taken seriously since she was so clearly pregnant. It was just too hilarious.

"In our defense, we tried to tell them not to do it." The female Wolverine told her stepmom.

"But they wouldn't bloody listen." Rahne added in an irritated tone, clueing the grownups in that she was against the idea.

"And you went with them, because…?" Jean asked with a raised eyebrow.

"To make sure they didn't do anything stupid, or in this case try to." The green eyed girl said.

"Yeah, look at how that turned out." Gavin commented as he looked at the passed out students.

"We told them it was a bad idea." The two shrugged.

"At least you did. I think a hangover will suffice as punishment, right?" Devin mused.

"Yeah, I think that'll do. Come on, let's get these loons into bed." Lance commented as he walked over to Bobby and picked him up.

"Way ahead of you, I need to drop off Peter at his aunt's house anyway. Poor Miss May has enough stuff to worry about as it is." Laura yawned as she hoisted said web slinger over her shoulder.

"Take care out there. I'll be sure to send word to the police and explain the situation as best I can." Xavier told her.

"Got it." The girl nodded before walking off to get Peter home.

"Well, I know one thing for certain." Johan started.

"What's that?" Chelsea asked with a raised eyebrow.

"This holiday is gonna be a one time thing here." He finished. His statement was met with a chorus of agreements from everyone else and a disappointed groan from Chelsea. "How about instead, we do it at my place next year?" He suggested. This got another chorus of agreements.

"And next time, we put someone in charge of actually watching the kids." Hank added.

"Agreed." Everyone nodded. That was how the first Oktoberfest at the Institute went, now that left only one thing: the day after.

(The next day)

"Oh, that was the worst decision I ever made…!" Bobby groaned in pain as he held his head along with the other kids who got wasted. The first thing they had when they woke up was a hangover, and it was making them regret their decision from last night.

"Not listening to Laura was the worst mistake of my life…" Sam moaned in pain.

"I can still taste the vomit…" Jamie muttered as he clutched his stomach, causing both Kai and Pele to nearly taste their breakfast a second time.

"Did I really yell 'Fuck da police' in front of the police?" Roberto asked.

"Yep, and the other's minus me and Laura joined in, too." Rahne replied dully.

"Ay caramba!" The living sunspot groaned.

"Uh guys… You're probably not gonna believe this but, this morning I woke up in a hotel with Boom Boom." Ray mentioned. Everyone looked at him and blinked.

"... Why?" Was all Pele could ask.

"Was she even at the party? I can't remember." Jubilee asked.

"Yeah, I invited her." Amara nodded.

"... Did I also mention that we were in our underwear when we woke up?" The electro user asked hesitantly. Everyone's jaws collectively dropped at that.

"Dude, what the heck?!" Sam exclaimed with wide eyes.

"I… I have no idea." He replied before sighing in defeat.

"Let's just agree that we're never going to speak of what was said here to anyone. Right?" The ice mutant proposed.

"Right." They all nodded, but Ray seemed like he was thinking of just what he was going to say to the literal blonde bombshell the next time he saw her…

Dragon Emperor0: So apparently Ray and Tabitha slept together, and that look on everyone's faces as the thought that only black out drunks, and Steve Erchle can have: 'Did he do that?' Was priceless.

ThermalsniperN7: Yep. Everyone got a small piece of Germany this chapter. Hard to believe those cops just went by the kids, though.

Dragon Emperor0: No kidding, also can we just take a moment to appreciate just how adorable Damian was this chapter? The mental image of everything he was doing still makes me happy.

ThermalsniperN7: In the words of a certain Russian I know of: "Is nice." Anyway, see you guys next time.