Chapter 2
Present day
Lance sat on the couch, remote in hand, watching TV. Every 30 seconds or so he would change the channel, unable to find anything he deemed good enough to watch. “Wait, go back!” Toad said, perched on the back of the arm chair “That was the 5th element!”
Lance groaned “But we’ve seen it so many times!”
“So?” Toad said, snatching the remote with his tongue “It’s a great movie!” Lance shook his hand free of Toad’s saliva. Before Toad could change the channel back Lance threw a full soda can at him, hitting him dead on. He grabbed the remote back and flipped the channel back to where he left off.
“-- reports of a missing woman, 21 year old and recent college graduate, Carol Danvers seems to have gone missing. She is the latest in a series of missing women in the surrounding areas. Authorities say that there is no reason to believe that these disappearances are related, and so far, no bodies have been found.”
“Missing ladies eh?” Toad said, hopping up next to Lance. “Sounds like a chance to be a hero.” He wriggled his eyebrows and gave a suggestive smile.
“Do you ever shut up?” Lance said through gritted teeth. Before Toad could answer the front door flew open and Wanda entered the house with a man bound and gagged.
“Babycakes! Thankfully I’m not a jealous man but I can’t help but wonder what you’ve got here.”
“I’m also interested…” Lance said walking over to the man.
“This man tried to grab me.” She said coldly “Unfortunately for him I don’t think he knows who he was messing with.” Wanda took the gag out of his mouth and he spat.
“I know exactly what I was dealing with.” The man said “A filthy mutant!” Lance picked the man up by his shirt and pushed him against the wall.
“Those are big words coming from a small little man.” Lance said, ground slightly rumbling.
“Go ahead!” He spat. “I have people who will come looking for me, and when they find out what you’ve done to me, the mutant registration act will be voted into law and you will be marked as the freaks you are!”
“That’s if anyone is able to prove it was us.” Toad said.
“Oh they will know it was you! You see I wasn’t working alone! I likely have people who tracked me here!”
“He’s bluffing!” Wanda shouted. Lance paused. If he was telling the truth, that would cause trouble for more than just the brotherhood. But if he was lying…
“I say we take turns messin with him!” Toad hopped up on the banister. “I wanna go first…unless of course you want first dibs sweetums?”
“Don’t. Call. Me. That!” Wanda growled, fists clenched.
“I say we let him go.” Lance said, the two of them looking a mix of outraged and confused. “If he’s telling the truth…we risk putting all of our kind in danger. I don’t want that on my shoulders.”
Wanda got as close to his face as she could, and stared him right in the eyes “You’re WEAK Lance!” and with that she stormed off. Toad hopping after her offering to comfort her. Lance let the man down and untied him.
“Leave.” Lance said darkly, and don’t make me regret letting you go. And with that the man ran out of the house.
The TV was still broadcasting the story on the missing women and wondered if there was something going on. He then realized he hadn’t seen Tabitha all day.
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When Rogue opened her eyes it took her a second to come to. She was on a stiff cot in what appeared to be a cell that was carved into a rock formation. She shot up in panic and tried to recall the events before she blacked out. She replayed the events of that day in her head remembering the walk home, the mail, and then her door being ajar.
She remembered being pushed into her home by a large man and being grabbed inside by another. She tried to fight them off and put up a bit of a fight but then she couldn’t quite recall anything else. She rose from the cot and investigated her surroundings.
The cell was medium sized and looked like it was built for her to be in there for a while. and she noticed three others like it connected to hers all partitioned with their own set of thick metal bars. On the other side of the bars was a vast cavern that had been excavated and carved to look like someone’s home. She could see columns that supported the heavy earth above them, a computer with several monitors, and a table made out of stone with chairs pulled up to it where she saw Pyro and Sabertooth playing a game of cards.
“Oh look!” Pyro said. “The girl is up! I suppose you’ll be wanting water for that headache you must have?”
Rogue did indeed have a headache but her pride prevented her from responding.
“Ah yes, the silent treatment. Normally I wouldn’t be so nice, but I know the discomfort you’re likely in. I’ve never had one of those collars on for longer than a few hours. The pain can be down right maddening.” Rogue wasn’t sure what he meant by collar but she reached up to touch her neck and found something there. Pyro walked close to her cell and tossed a bladder containing water. She tried not to appear desperate as she reached for it and pulled it in.
“What do y’all want with me?” Rogue spat.
“We don’t want anything. It’s our boss who wants you.”
“So are y’all not able to think for yourselves?” Rogue questioned.
He flopped back down in his seat. “Thinking for yourself is overrated. Better to have someone else to blame when things don’t quite work out.” He drew a card and looked at his hand again. “And Mr Kitty-cat over here” he gestured across the table. “Well I don’t know if he ever had any thoughts.” Sabertooth grunted but ultimately did nothing.
“You didn’t take a peek at my cards now, did you fuzzball?”
Rogue tried to look for a weak point in the bars. Something that could shift or be dislodged.
“You’re wasting your time, Love. Those cells are quite solid.” He turned his attention to Sabertooth. “Do you have any fours?”
Rogue flopped down on her cot and decided she would bide her time. Besides, the headache was making it hard to concentrate.
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The mansion now was fully decorated. Carved pumpkins, cobwebs, brooms, kitchy signs that said things like “home is where the haunt is.” and the smell of pumpkin pies. so …many…pies. Kurt pulled another one out of the oven and set it on the counter to cool with the others. Storm walked into the kitchen and watched Kurt load another tray in the over but this time pumpkin seeds.
“My my,” she said “Who do you plan on feeding all these pies?” she quirked an eyebrow. Kurt was so preoccupied that he hadn’t seen her come in.
“Oh, these? I didn’t want it to go to waste, so I figured I’d make pies and then it got out of hand. So I decided I was going to take these to the homeless shelter!”
“As admirable as that is Kurt, Places like that don’t normally accept food from the outside. People can be cruel sometimes.” Kurt’s expression of joy fell. Really? Why would people do that?”
“Because people suck.” Kitty said, phasing through an adjacent wall. “But I think we should still find a way to give all these pies away. This is just…excessive.”
“You’re right, I just got carried away.”
“I’ll say. And like, you’ve really been on edge lately. What’s up with you? It’s like you can’t sit still or anything.”
“I’m not sure” Kurt signed. “I’ve just been feeling like something is going to happen and I just can’t seem to take it easy.”
“Have you talked to the professor, or Jean?” Storm asked.
“No, but maybe I should.”
“I think that would at least give you a direction to go in. They may not be able to fix it, but they may be able to help you identify the problem.”
“You’re right. I should do that.” and with a -bamf- he was gone.
Appearing near the professor’s office Kurt walked toward the door and posed to knock when he heard “Come in Kurt.” in his head. He pushed the doors open and found Jean and the Professor sitting in his office.
“Am I interrupting anything?” Kurt asked.
“No, not at all, It seems you are troubled Kurt, how can we help you?”
“Kurt shifted uncomfortably and fidgeted with this fingers.” I’m not sure if it’s obvious but I’ve been a little on edge recently. Jean raised an eyebrow
“You don’t say.” she smiled. Kurt blushed.
“I was hoping maybe one of you could…maybe help me find out what it is that’s bothering me?”
“Normally that’s something you have to do on your own Kurt, but I suppose given how much distress this has caused you.” Jean closed her eyes and peered into Kurt’s head. In his mind she saw flashes of insecurities, of worse case scenarios, a pumpkin pie recipe, and then she landed on a clear vision of Rogue. He saw her scared, and in pain, trapped somewhere. “Oh Kurt-” She said “You just need to call Rogue. Stop worrying about her being upset. Just speaking to her will put your mind at ease.”
“I suppose you're right.” He relented “Thank you very much for your time.” And with that he vanished.
“Professor?”
“Yes Jean?”
“What I saw in Kurt’s mind…” She paused “It felt…real? I too felt like Rogue was in danger.” The professor thought over this.
“Let’s give it some time and see what comes of Kurt’s phone call. Rogue left us to get some space and I wouldn’t feel right trying to check in on her. Let’s let Kurt handle this for now.”
Kurt reappeared in his room and grabbed his phone off the charger. He opened up his phone and hesitated to call Rogue. “Just do it.” He told himself, and pressed dial. The phone rang, and rang, and rang until “The voicemail box of this user has not been set up yet.” -click- Kurt rolled his eyes as he hung up. Of COURSE she wouldn’t have a voicemail box. He decided he would try again tomorrow.
He teleported back into the kitchen, startling Kitty but Storm remained unphased. Storm had taken a slice of pie and was eating it. “This is quite delicious Kurt, where did you get this recipe?”
“You like it? I made it myself after looking at lots of other recipes!” He looked at the pies surrounding him. “I’ve obviously had the chance to perfect the recipe.” He smiled shyly.
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Lance was standing on the patio looking out at the cars. His Jeep was still there so Tabitha hadn’t run off too far he thought. At this point she had been missing for two days. Normally he wouldn’t worry, but with reports of women going missing and the numbers seemingly increasing he wondered what would happen if they found out she was a mutant.
A second later Pietro joined him on the patio. “Wanda and I looked all over town. No sign of her. I don’t know why you care so much, she likely just ran off to leech off of some suspecting rube.”
“Yeah, right…” Lance agreed, distracted by the situation. If Tabitha didn’t turn up soon, he was going to have to reach out to the X-dweebs.