Eli looked at Charles as they made their way towards where Lucas had led Jawn with Kathy. He noticed the issues he'd had at the start and realized that Lucas must have done this on purpose. He would have wanted to make it as difficult as he could for Charles to get there and interfere with the fight.
"Are you okay?" Eli asked.
"I will be as soon as I know that Kathy and Jawn are okay." Charles replied.
"You know you should really consider investing in a hover-chair." Eli said
Before Charles could respond Kathy's voice rang through the air.
"JAWN!" she cried her tone dripping with terror.
Scott made eye contact with Kurt.
"Nightcrawler… get me to her… NOW!"
"On it!" Kurt replied.
"Hey, what about the rest of us?" Eli asked but soon they were all levitated by Jean and were set down where Jawn and Kathy had been taken. Kathy was free by the time the rest of them arrived and was trying to keep Jawn from bleeding to death as Scott was searching the area for Lucas.
Charles approached them.
"What happened?" he asked.
"Kathy…I'm sorry." Jawn muttered before lapsing unconscious.
"He… he was fighting Lucas, power for power… and… and he was winning too when… when I saw a flash… over there…" Kathy pointed towards where the shot had come from "and… and Jawn went down."
"Lucas shot him?" Scott asked in surprise.
"No… someone else… I couldn't tell who it was. I couldn't see them… I… I'm sorry I…" Kathy began to sob as Beast checked on Jawn.
"The bullet went all the way through…" he observed.
"Then… like why didn't we hear a gunshot?" Kitty asked.
"Silencer…" Eli muttered as he walked to the spot Kathy had indicated the bullet coming from.
"Is… is he going to die?" Kathy asked now leaning against her father's wheelchair, as he gently ran his fingers through her hair.
"Hey, munchkin… what happened to your lip… it was bleedin pretty bad earlier." Logan observed.
"Jawn healed it." She replied wiping her eyes.
Rogue looked at Kathy.
"Since when could he heal?" she asked.
"I don't know… he said he's been working on it for a while."
Rogue nodded peeling her glove off then touched him for a moment then used the obtained power to heal him.
As this was happening Eli stood where Kathy had indicated. He acted out someone standing in the spot aiming a gun at Jawn. He then followed the presumed trajectory and located the bullet. He went to grab it, but Wolverine stopped him by grabbing his wrist.
"Don't touch it… somethin' don't smell right." Wolverine pointed out.
"You think it's been laced with something?" he asked.
"Yeah… somethin bad… Beast will be able to tell ya what better than me." Wolverine sighed as Jean levitated the bullet off the ground.
"We need to get this back to the institute; we'll be able to figure out what it is there." She replied as Rogue finished healing Jawn.
"Then let's all go back." Charles sighed "We can continue the search for Lucas later."
Wolverine picked up Jawn and they started back to the X-Jet.
"Dad… I'm sorry." Kathy muttered weakly.
Charles stopped and looked back at her.
"Whatever for, my child?"
"If I had been able to defend myself you all wouldn't have had to come here and safe me and… and Jawn wouldn't have gotten hurt."
The others had stopped hearing her say that.
"Kathy, none of this is your fault, if anyone is to blame it's Lucas." Scott observed.
"You just discovered your powers today no one expects you to be able to control them so soon." Eli added.
"Kathy they're right, you know this." Charles added.
"No… I… I should have been able to do something… it… it's my fault!" She protested and took off passed everyone in a run.
Scott started after Kathy, but Eli stopped him.
"Let her go for now, she's in the jet. We will deal with this when we get home." Eli said.
"Okay…" Scott sighed.
The whole ride back Kathy stayed by Jawn's side holding his hand muttering apologies for the fact that he had gotten hurt trying to rescue her.
They got back to the institute and Kathy was the first one to the elevator and Scott once again tried to follow her. Eli stopped Scott shaking his head then looked to Charles.
"I think it would be best if you went, Charles." He said.
"Yes…" Charles sighed then he too went to the elevator to wait for it to return so he could follow her. He already knew where she had gone so it wouldn't take him long to get to her.
Charles arrived in Kathy's room to find her laying on her bed crying.
"Kathy…" he said softly as he gripped her shoulder gently "you know no one blames you for this." he said softly.
"I know, dad, but I blame me…" she replied sitting up on her bed.
"Why…" Charles asked as he transitioned from his chair to sitting beside Kathy. "There was nothing you could have done."
"But why did they have to shoot him dad? It was like mom all over again and there was nothing I could do to stop it I couldn't protect him!"
Charles embraced Kathy as another fit of sobs wracked her form.
"Kathy none of this was your fault." He said softly but he knew his words were lost on her, he knew she would have to come to that revelation on her own.
The sobs began to subside, and he started to let her go but he noticed she still clung to him.
"Don't go, dad, please stay. I just need you to hold me." She said.
"Of course." Charles replied and tightened his embrace around her. His heart shattered at the sound of her pleading for him to merely hold her for a few moments.
Meanwhile Beast had taken the bullet, now in a specimen bag, to his lab and Eli was about to go his own way when Rogue stopped him. Eli looked at her in confusion.
"Yes…?" he asked
"We've got some questions." She said.
"What kind of questions." He replied turning to give her his full attention.
"Is Kathy okay?" Rogue asked
"She will be, once she gets some rest." Eli sighed.
"Okay, so what are we going to do now, we can't like totally let this slide." Kitty added
"We're not going to; we'll find who did this and stop them." Scott said sternly.
"Is Jawn okay?" Kurt asked.
"He's resting comfortably, but he hasn't regained consciousness." Scott sighed.
Kurt nodded "Poor Jawn."
"No doubt…" Scott paused.
"Like what can we do in the meantime?" Kitty asked.
"Well let's see, Charles is with his daughter. Jawn is in the infirmary and Beast is analyzing the bullet so there isn't much more we can do."
"Eli, I noticed an odd look on the professor's face when ya used the plants to break the barrier… he looked kinda sad, like he was fightin back tears… any idea what that was about?" Rogue asked.
Eli stiffened then sighed "That was my sister's ability."
"What does that have to do with Professor Xavier?" Kurt asked
"It was also Kathy's mother's power."
Jean sat down her thoughts racing for a second.
"Are you trying to say that your sister and Kathy's mom, Professor Xavier's late wife, were the same person?" she asked.
Eli grinned at her "Very good, I can see you're definitely someone who can read between the lines."
"How did ya use yer sister's power when she's been dead for what a decade?" Rogue asked.
Eli turned his attention to her.
"That, my, dear is why I told you to pay attention. It's also the reason I believe your professor has been trying to get me to come here for the past four years, we, you and I, have the same ability."
"How… I've seen ya touch people and not knock 'em out."
"That's because I'm older than you and I have more experience, watch this."
Eli reached over and flicked Scott's nose, causing Scott to give him an irritated look, then looked over at a potted plant using the eye beams to blow it up.
Kurt jumped away swearing in German and Eli rubbed his eyes.
"Yikes, red eye…" he looked at Scott "How do you put up with that?"
"You get used to it… mine are on all the time." Scot sighed.
"Okay, so that explains why you wear those, and here I thought it was just a fashion statement" Eli smirked.
"Eli, I've been thinking about something and… and I'm worried about Kathy." Jean cut in.
"What's wrong?" Eli asked turning to Jean.
"I'm worried Kathy is going to need more of her father's attention than he's going to be able to give her while they are still in the mansion." Jean admitted.
"Why do you say that?" Eli asked.
"I get what she's saying, the professor is going to want to be involved in figuring all of this out and… and Kathy needs his undivided attention." Scott added "This is the second person she witnessed get shot and she's taking it bad. She blames herself and she needs his attention, his assurance that none of this was her fault and there was nothing she could have done. Problem is getting him to focus on her."
"So you think it would be best if the two of them took a vacation somewhere off campus." Eli sighed clutching his fists at his side at what made it sound like his niece had been emotionally neglected.
"Ja… the professor has been caught up with his work… until today most of us didn't even know he had a daughter let alone a second wife." Kurt added "We only learned of his first when Legion disappeared."
"What?" Eli demanded.
"Yeah, we like totally only learned about Kathy today when we met her."
"I see" Eli nodded, that statement told him a lot about the dynamic in the mansion and the distance that had developed between Kathy and Charles. He briefly wondered if Charles had noticed what was happening and, if he did, why he hadn't done anything to correct the problem before the damage became irreparable.
"In that case, for now let's all get some rest" he looked at Rogue "We will start your training in the morning. In the meantime I have a call to make" Eli pulled out his phone as he walked to the elevator "and Logan I need to have a word with you as well."
Storm and Logan were watching from the doorway and Storm sighed.
"He's been here less than a day and he has already taken his new role on like he's always been here." She observed casually. "I worry about this, he is Megan's brother, getting Megan and Charles together was his idea, now I wonder how he feels about his niece being neglected."
"Question is how big is the argument gonna get between him and Chuck?"
"Do you really think there's going to be an argument?" Storm asked.
"Oh yeah… he might've been able to hide it from the kids, but I saw his mood change, Eli's got a bone to pick with Charles and I can tell you right now Chuck ain't gonna like what Eli's got to say."
Storm let out a breath and nodded silently as Eli called for Logan who responded with a grunt and followed him into the elevator.
It took a while, but Kathy soon drifted off to sleep. Charles got her situated before returning to his chair and going to his office his mind filled with questions he couldn't begin to answer. He got there to see Eli waiting for him, Logan standing against the wall their casual stance doing well to disguise their annoyance with him.
"Eli… now isn't the time." Charles sighed in frustration.
"Oh no I think now is the perfect time for this." Eli retorted as he and Logan followed Charles into the office before closing the door.
"I just had an interesting conversation with your students." Eli sighed.
"Is that so, what did my students have to tell you?" Charles asked sharply.
"Oh nothing much, they just told me that my niece was sent away when she was ten and my nephew hasn't attended a single public school." Eli replied.
"First of all you knew Kathryn was at that school I asked you to watch over her and second I couldn't risk Jawn losing control in a public environment he was too powerful from far too young an age!" Charles shot back. "Third Jawn isn't your nephew"
"Funny I seem to recall you and Megan adopting Jawn at birth thus making him my nephew. Also isn't that when he got his powers thus meaning his control should be far better than even your faculty."
"Indeed Eli but what is your point?" Charles demanded getting more annoyed.
"My point is this." Eli paused "Ever since Megan died you have closed yourself up in this school and focused on the students instead of the kids you already had."
Charles glared at him bringing Megan in was a low blow in his opinion .
"Even your students are worried you are going to pay more attention to them than Kathy and from what I have observed I am inclined to agree with them. Kathy needs her father more now than she ever has."
"How would you know anything, Eli, you haven't exactly been around yourself." Charles retorted.
"I've been around Kathy long enough to know you have missed all of her gymnastics competitions." Eli shot back. "Yet you went to Jean's soccer games."
"That isn't fair…"
"No, what isn't fair is you picking them over your biological child." Eli cut in glaring daggers at Charles. "You realize most of your students didn't even know you had a daughter?"
Charles went silent as he looked out the window into the night he had no excuse and Eli knew this.
"How did you know?" he asked turning back to Eli.
"I know this from the same source that asked me to come here," Eli paused "and you can imagine how humiliating it was for him to come to me like that and have you not even give him credit" Eli gestured to Logan who was leaning a shoulder against the wall casually chewing on a toothpick but both men knew better than to let that casual look fool them. Logan could go from that to ripping a man's throat out in the time it took anyone else to blink.
"I did ask you to come to this school, to come help train Rogue."
"That was before all of mutant kind was dragged out to the limelight kicking and screamin'" Logan sighed.
"While I'm glad that you two have begun to tolerate each other I am slightly offended that you two have been talking about me behind my back."
"Oh it ain't just been me…"
"Yes, I have gotten calls from Storm and Erik of all people… that's how I knew you were attending Jean's soccer games but not Kathy's gymnastics meets."
Charles looked at Eli in confusion.
"Magneto has broken his silence to talk to you of all people, I was under the impression he wasn't talking to any of us."
"He has his issues, but he still cares enough about Kathy to at least attend a couple of her competitions, but he never let her see him." Eli sighed and looked "I don't pretend to understand how all this affects you emotionally, but I can't help but wonder how my sister would feel about all of this."
"Megan would be so ashamed of me and how I've behaved since her death." Charles looked down in shame.
"Damn straight" Logan muttered under his breath.
"You took the words right out of my mouth." Eli smirked.
Charles leaned his head in his hands as hard as this was to hear from Eli he deserved it, every word of it and more.
"Okay guys let's cool it, we can't forget we got a kid upstairs that just developed telepathic powers today, we don't want all this tension to wake her up."
Eli took a deep breath "I'm not going to apologize for bringing all of this up, it needed to be said, but I have noticed that you have been through a lot and I, more than anyone, know that we can only make decisions based on the options we have, at times they help us out others they bite us in the ass" Eli paused for emphasis "sometimes quite literally."
"Like the choices I've made lately." Charles said with a humorless laugh
Logan gives an almost inaudible chuckle at the 'sometimes literally' part leaning against the wall glad this argument didn't get too big.
To Be Continued…