Piles of snow white paper fell into disarray when his hands searched for the object of his desire, the incessant ringing causing his ears to hum with harmonics that he'd never considered when he'd taken the thing.
A large pawed hand closed around the object finally, the small communicator had been silent upto now and the only reason he'd kept the thing was that it had been very intriguing to his mind. The little metal object had circuitry of that he had no doubt but to how it worked and kept itself powered he had no idea.
Flicking the small buttons on the side made the thing snap open and he brought the small object to the side of his large skull. "Hello?" His deep baritone rumbled out into it, expecting nothing but static he was pleasently surprised to hear a southern female accent come through into his ear.
"Am ah talkin' to Dr Hank McCoy?"
"Yes but whom am I communicating with?" He knew the leader of the X-Men had a wife but she had a Boston accent.
"Mah name is Rogue, I'm the secretary of Charles Xavier. Ah've been asked to contact you about an offer, we have need of your skills here at the School. We'd like to offer you a position, as a medical doctor, seeing to the needs of the children here."
Hanks mind was doing calculations, the newspaper he'd bought yesterday had a few odd occurances in it that if someone looked at them the right way could either be co-incidence or a very bad thing had happened somewhere. Either way it looked like any mutant would soon need protection somewhere and they *had* offered him a spot when they first found him after the attack by Magneto. Looking at the small television he had tuned to the news channel, the sound muted so he could work, he saw the human carnage that had been caused when for no reason people from all over the southwest had suddenly decided to attack Magneto's compound. By the end of the day it would be over and the world would be looking for a new target. He stood out by his very shape and colour, maybe a trip north would be in order.
"Hello? Yes I beleive I'll take you up on the offer, how fast would you like me to get there? I can make it in a couple of days, I'm better if I travel at night. I disturb less people and pass through them easier." The voice on the other end laughed pleasantly.
"No need Doc, we're sending them to you, in fact it looks like they're nearly with you already. Just keep the line open and they'll find you, should be a young Asian woman called Jubilee and a blonde haired man called Bobby. They'll help you with anythin' you want to bring with ya. Hope to see ya soon Doc, there's a few people that need ya here." With that the voice cut away but the little green light on the communicator was still lit, showing it to be still transmitting.
He was still looking at it when the knocks to his door roused him out of his fugue. Checking the spyhole he saw two young adults stood there, one looking up and down the small corridor the other cracking gum and winking at the spyhole. Her face looked just like a pixie would if it had been Eurasian, but he pegged her for northern Japanese mixed with a Polynesian grandparent in her family. She took after her mother's side in her face, but her father in body shape. Opening the door to the two visitors her face broke into a smile as she pushed past him into his rooms.
"Hi Doc, we're your movers. What needs to go with you?" The younger man was moving into the room but his voice was silent as were his movements, he obviously took this more seriously than the girl. Turning to see her flicking through a notebook he let his mind freewheel for a moment.
"You're from Xavier's?" The girls smile faultered only a little but she recovered well.
"Yup we're here to help you move whatever stuff you need so we can use your expertise back home." Her forced cheerfulness gave Hank cause to pause in his thoughts.
"Why?" She snapped her head up to look at the young man near the door, giving him a sharp glance. "I mean why now, after nearly six months, why contact me now?" It was Bobby who answered his query, his Iowa roots showing in his broad shoulders and Anglosaxon hair.
"Because at the moment we really need a doctor and you were first on the list. So are we helping you move or do we go to number two?"
The way the young man just laid it out made Hanks ears prick up, there was something he wasn't saying but by his tension being held in his shoulders and arms it was enough to make him curious. He'd been saved by the X-Men and now he was being given an opportunity to pay back the debt. Also he had an opportunity to find out what was going on in the rest of the country instead of sweating it out down here. Switching off the communicator Hank stood up to his full height, his head brushing the top of the ceiling...just. "There's no need, I'm coming."
Hank turned to look at the young woman but her eyes were glued to the news channel, her face pinched and pale as she turned back to the two of them.
"They've killed him, Bobby; they've killed him!" Her voice sounded shocked, as if she couldn't believe what she was seeing. On screen a compound was burning, mutants of every shade and colour were being allowed to run away but a body dressed in red and black was being hoisted upward. The news chopper above got an image, of Magneto, stabbed, crushed, skin torn open in parts, a piece of bloodied meat dropped into the human crowd beneath who continued to beat on the corpse. All of it done in silence, the violence of the act numbed by the lack of sound.
Bobby's voice cut through the quiet. "Is there anything here you can't replace?" Hank looked around quickly, grabbed his notebooks and felt the young mans gloved hand push him toward the doorway. "Jube's come on, we're leaving NOW!" She turned back to them both, her eyes blurred with tears, her earings rattling as she nodded to them both. She left the television on, it's picture showing the prison photograph of Magneto, the smile one of superiority on his now destroyed face. Turning her back on it she left with their prize between them, life had just become even more dangerous. She knew The Brotherhood would take revenge as soon as they got themselves organised and they needed to be home before it happened.
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Marie was hip deep in files, she'd woken that morning to find most of the human staff gone, even the sour faced secretary was missing. Xavier's office was still a mess and she thought a bit more mess wouldn't be noticed. She'd used her claws to rip open the desk, searching for things she had no idea of what or where. Looking for evidence she'd been asked to provide, Ro' had retired to her rooms upstairs after the kids had been fed and corralled. She had yet to come down, Kitty was up on the same floor keeping an eye on her. Jones was down the hall watching the lift, Logan had wanted to disable it and she'd been hard pressed not to let him. It had been Peiter that had asked him not to, just in case they needed to get someone down into surgery fast. She knew he was thinking about Kitty but somehow she knew they wouldn't be living here when Kitty had her baby.
Desk drawers were open but they'd revealed nothing to her, she needed to find the stuff Xaiver had been hiding. Sitting in the chair in front of the desk she noticed the tilt of the desk in front of her. It tilted back toward where Xavier would sit, giving him a fatherly look. She moved around the desk, her feet going over the place where his chair would sit. Slowly her eyes dropped to the floor, the wooden floor under her gaze looked 'wrong' somehow. Hunching down behind the desk she used her fingers to trace the boards, several were raised from their neighbours. A pattern emerged when she traced them, smiling to herself she let her claws fire in her left hand. Using a claw she dug the tip into the plank and twisted it; it splintered, broke and popped up. Underneath was a metal surface, smiling she snapped the claw away wincing still at the pain of it and the itching of the slow healing wound. Grabbing the wood in her hands she tore the false floor out, when it had been revealed she went to get some help in getting the small safe open.
She hoped what they all needed lay inside it's locked insides.
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Peiter watched as the tree fell, a few shoves from him after Logan had cut the roots and the massive tree was falling. Most of the younger men were out here with them, to them it was a class on defensive tactics, in reality it was defence against whomever was coming to visit.
Pit traps, Malayan swings, barbs, ambushes with sharpened sticks dipped in manure, head level garotte's, trip wires, nooses made of wire left hanging in bushes where a person could crawl through. They'd made a ring of them around the mansion, about a half mile inside the forest, it wouldn't keep them from coming in but it would give them a few minutes warning. Several flash grenades and a couple of rigged rifles strapped to trees would sound off if someone tripped the wires.
Logan had made some 'adjustments' to some fireworks that had been in the storehouse for the 4th of July, now they had what seemed to be mortars. Half dug into the ground they'd make whoever crossed their path's think twice about coming any closer. Besides the power they had would probably smash the windows on the ground floor anyway.
Several of the younger kids had made a 'bog' further down, by laying out hoses on a patch of marshy ground they'd let it run into the soil. Filling the space under the leaf layer with water, in wet years it was a natural bog. Small and only a few feet deep at best naturally, it had been deepened by Hannah, a child whose natural gift was for vibration. She sent vibrations through the already liquid soil turning it even deeper, so now when someone dropped into it they were in twelve feet of liquid earth. Logan had been proud of them, they worked together, as a team, when he'd told them the purpose of it they'd all loved it. An animal habitat, a place for them to come and learn about swamp creatures, over the summer they'd be brought out to study what had colonised it. A few bodies were always what a swamp needed to get started, pity they couldn't grab a gator to put in there as well. He didn't lie to the kids, if they came back they would use the place to study, but now it had a better purpose, as a trap.
The tree's him and Peiter had been felling were used to bank up on ridges, set to fall when someone tripped a wire. Even he'd have trouble with some of the traps they'd set up, crush damage is hard to get over, especially when it happened to legs. Hence why a lot of the traps were aimed at groin or chest level, if you can't breathe you can't move, same with broken bones.
It was late afternoon when they finished, everyone going back inside to eat and get washed, he found Ro' down in the kitchen. Peiter left them to it, finding Kitty for himself. Going over to the coffee pit he poured himself a huge mug, tipping the sugar bowl up dumping half the contents inside the mug. Using two fingers to swirl the dark mess around he just drank the entire mess down in one. Hands covered in splinters and dirt he opened the fridge up to his scrutiny, finding what he needed he just pulled it out onto the table and began tearing into the meat. Ro' just kept her silence as he ate his way through the turkey on the plate. When he looked like he was finally slowing down she raised her face to look at his own.
"Logan...." he stopped with a leg halfway to his mouth, still chewing the last bite he'd taken he let his gaze rest on Ro's still pallid face.
"What?" She raised her eyes to meet his and he saw her trying to keep his gaze with her own.
"I'm sorry." Logan quirked an eyebrow at her as she struggled to finish the words that were crowding her throat. "I'm sorry for everything, for treating you less than I should, every time I could have helped you, every time I could have supported you instead of beleiving what I'd been told." Her gaze became quite firm again and some strength returned to her face.
She meant it, she was being truthful but for him it was too little too late, she was just as much to blame for what had gone on here as everyone else. She'd been one of those who'd wanted him 'removed' from the school, she hadn't liked him working with her on missions. Comparing him to a 'dog' or a 'barely controlled beast', he'd heard her enough times whispering her thoughts to everyone else when she thought he was out of earshot. She'd wasted any forgiveness he could've given her on those moments, even when he'd bled for her, taken bullets meant for her she'd still sneered at him. No, she'd had her chance and it was time she paid for her treatment of him.
"No."
She looked confused until he opened his mouth again, "No, I don't want your sorrow, your pity. You made your mind up the day you saw me in the Med Bay when your master called you down. When you saw him tearing my mind to peices to get me 'under control', want to know why he wanted me 'under control'? " His eyes glittered dangerously as he put the turkey leg back down onto the plate. "Because I'd worked out something, that the only way he could've been giving me names of lab techs where they did this to me," hsi claws fired in the small space between them and he watched Ro's eyes widen in fear. "Was if the bastard knew where I'd been and who'd had me. Fuck he even has the report on my 'conditioning' and he used that to keep me in line till he gave me Rogue.
I don't care if you live or die in this fight Ro' to be honest, you've called me a pig to a dog ever since you've known me and now because you're finally finding out that you've been played just as much as I've been I should suddenly 'like' you?" He snorted through his nose clearing Ro's scent of fear out of his lungs. "I *KNOW* you hate me, you can't stand me but I'm the only chance you *have*. Jean left you behind didn't she? Scott is probably some vegetable by the side of the road and your all alone with *me*. Well I'll let you into a little secret Ro' I'm not the only one round here with *claws*." His eyes switched to the doorway where Marie was stood her senses already telling her what had gone on in here. Ro's head turned to see Marie behind her, her face blank and her eyes boring into the back of her head. The look in them one she recognised, the purpose in her face something she'd seen in the Danger Room. Ro' knew if she got out of this unscathed and free she'd be lucky but after this there'd be no free pass.
"Rogue....I never....." Ro' watched the younger woman clench her fists by her sides seeing the muscle twitch along her forearms.
"Save it, we've things to do. When Bobby and Jubes get here with the Doc, tell him what we need him to do. Not why, just tell him we have a problem with Xaiver."
She left with Logan following her, his hand on her back splayed protectively over her.
Ro' stayed seated until she heard the engines of the Blackbird above her, the plan was finally coming together. If it went well they should have complete control of the mansion in an hour and Xavier should be safely tucked up in Med Bay. She only hoped it would be quick and without incident but she doubted it.
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Several trucks had tried to ram her on the way here, only when she'd clouded her progress did it stop. Scott was out, resting in a light coma she'd induced, he'd remember nothing but the journey away. Who he was was safe, who he'd been had gone, she was still there but she'd edited burned out and destroyed any reference to Xavier. He'd have gaps, big ones but then so did Logan and he still managed to live a decent life. Besides when this was all over she'd tell him everything, he deserved it but right now she needed help to bring them into safety and to save the kids she'd left behind her.
It was her biggest regret, that she'd had to leave them in his hands, all the things he'd done, all the things he'd sent her out to do. Everything was there in her mind, every deed, every kill, every soul she'd snuffed out of existance. It pained her to even think about it, she was a *doctor*, she'd picked that profession to save life, she wasn't a killer, she hated death. But he'd used her, moulded her subconscious into the thing he wanted, she'd never forgotten any of it, only blocked it from her view. Now there were no blocks, she could see it all and what she saw sickened her. She was as bad as Erik, and she had to do her best to change what she'd been part of. Jean knew about Emma's school, she was sure she'd be able to get help there. Ro' had told her about the place and it sounded a better place for the kids to be, all of them.
She drove up the large drive only to find several buses filling up with quiet pale faced children carrying everything they owned onto the buses. Leaving Scott slumbering she ran toward them all, several adults took on fighting stances but it was the near white blonde that stopped them from attacking her.
//What do you want here?// Emma sent out her thoughts to Jean who was approaching slowly.
/I need your help!/
The woman let her get closer but her hands were at her pockets just in case. When she was close enough to be heard Jean spoke to Emma.
"I need your help." Emma's face was impassive as ever.
"Why? You look like your doing alright on your own; even with the extra baggage." She nodded at a sleeping Scott.
Jean steeled herself before answering her jibe.
"I'm not here for *me*, it's Charles." At her mention of her ex-tutor Emma's face went serious.
"What about him?"
"He's lost control over me and Scott, he's been trying to find me ever since I left and took Scott with me. I won't be used by him anymore, but it's the children. I want you to get the children away from him."
Emma didn't answer her, she just scanned her mind, inside her mind she was seething trying to keep her nager in check while fighting her new released powers and keeping herself beneath the radar. Narrowing her eyes she gave the once proud X-Men a calculating look, as if weighing up her options.
"Is he still using Cerebro?" Jean concentrated for a second, wincing as she searched for him. Finding him she nodded and closed her mind down again before he could find her. Emma moved quickly and pulled Jean into the main building.
"I need you to brief everyone now, tunnel systems, defences, everything you can." She deposited her in a room filled with different mutants, a face she recognised in amongst them. Xavier's secretary, she smiled a snake grin and shifted her form. Displaying her true shape to the woman she'd given love advice to ever since she'd been there. Shocked Jean let herself be seated as she began to be questioned, the plans had already been made all she was doing was adding details. One's that might save a few more lives if she was accurate.
Emma left her to it and turned her attention to Scott, entering his mind she gleaned everything she could from the pieces Jean had left in there. A cold look in her eye as she looked to the skies that were darkening in the north-east. The storm was nearly on them and they had to move fast, pity she hadn't brought the jet they could've used it.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Marie does some digging for a new doc, Logan goes and gets organised in the forest with help, Jean finds a haven and helps the cause without knowing it.
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