Hank smiled and pointed out a few more flaws in the plan. This would be great. They were finally going to get those kids back for all the nasty things they'd done. It was about time.
"Beast, you take this and go into the kitchen, Jean you're in charge of food and Iceman, you keep them out of the office. Got it?" Everyone nodded and headed off, going to do their normal jobs.
"Hey, Blue. Wassup?" Jubilee asked as she entered the living room. He looked oddly cheerful.
"Oh, nothing much. The Professor's coming later today to see if everything's going well. He said he'd be checking rooms, training, the grotto, and everything in general."
Jubilee gulped. "Oh really?"
"Yup. He said that another school is opening in Arizona, and whatever kids aren't doing well here will go there. It's a real military school for mutants on the streets."
"Well, no one will be going, right?" She asked hesitantly. "I mean, people here are great, aren't we?"
"Hmm? Oh, well I guess that's up to what the professor thinks." he smiled and patted her head, then sent her on her way.
Jubilee swallowed hard, then called an emergency meeting for the teens in the science lab. No one would look for them there. "Listen, the prof's coming, he's gonna send us all to military school!"
There was sudden murmuring as they all absorbed the information and started trying to think of a way out.
"Maybe we should tell him the truth, perhaps he'll go easy on us." Paige tried to reason.
"No way, the truth goes against everything I believe in!" Jubilee declared.
"We have to do something!"
"Maybe if we helped out until he gets here . . ."
The suggestions went on and on.
***
Bishop smiled. Soon it would all be over. His kidnappers were in place. With the push of a button the defenses would be down, and they could come racing in, taking the kids as fast as they could. Perfect. Now all he had to do was locate the kids.
***
Bobby looked around. "Hank, have you seen the little guys?"
"Who, Leech, Artie and Franklin?"
"No, all of them. I haven't seen 'em in a while. You don't think we scared 'em with that Prof. is coming story, did we?"
Beast guffawed. "Of course not. They can't go anywhere anyway."
Bobby nodded. "True. I must just be anxious."
***
The merc known only as Merph waited quietly by the door. Slowly he drew in a puff of smoke from his cigarette, then coughed so hard he thought his head would explode. No matter. Soon he'd have money.
***
Bishop located the kids, and sent their position to Merph the merc, then let down the defenses.
***
"I'm sure they're fine. Probably trying to clean their bedrooms before the professor gets here." Beast laughed quietly. What a great hoax. The professor. Right.
{*DING DONG*}
Warren got up from the couch where he was reading the paper, not having noticed it was a two week old one, and went to answer the door.
He almost slammed it again. Unfortunately, the tip of the gold hoverchair was in the way and he couldn't.
"Uh, Professor! How good to see you! I thought that you were back in Westchester!"
Xavier hummed inside, even his bald head red with anger. "Just what is this?!" He demanded, shoving the school paper in Archangel's face.*
"Um, it appears to be a newspaper."
"I know that! I mean, just what is all this in it?!"
"Writing?" Warren squirmed under his teachers stare.
Charles was silent for a minute. "Where's Scott?" He said at last.
"Uh . . . Jean?" Warren called. How was he going to explain that Scott was in jail for child abuse?!**
"I WANT TO TALK TO SCOTT!" The professor hovered to the kitchen, where they had laid out a large and complicated trap to get back at the teens.
"Uh, PROFESSOR! Don't go in there. It's a mess." Warren grabbed the chair and pulled back, then got his hands slapped by Xavier who wasn't happy that he was being jerked around.
"Why is it a mess?? It shouldn't be! It seems to me that you have a housekeeper, it should be clean!"
"She quit."
"Why?"
Archangel hesitated, thinking about the glue on the vacuum, the honey, and ants, on the mop and the bugs down her apron. *** "Uh, long story."
"WELL GET ANOTHER ONE! These children are just teenagers, they shouldn't be that hard to take care of! I took care of all of you when you were teenagers!"
Warren squirmed. "But there was only five of us."
"AND ONE OF ME! You can't keep the house clean, the children are writing trash like this," and he flung the school paper around, "who knows if it has any basis in reality, I even saw graffiti on the way in! All over the biosphere!"
"That can be explained."
"You'd better start. SCOTT!" With that the professor floated into the kitchen, and fell into the trap.
Archangel cringed and turned away. He couldn't bare to watch.
Jean finally got there just then, panting and out of breath. "Warren! I'm so glad I found you! The kids are missing! They've gone! We--what?"
Archangel's face had gone totally white and he kept gesturing for her to stop. Charles came out of the kitchen, more horrible then he had ever looked before.
"There's a trap in the kitchen. The children are missing. The housekeeper's quit. The school paper is full of trash. Oh, there better be a good explanation."
Jean grimaced. "Hi, Charles. How are you?"
"How. Am. I? WHERE IS SCOTT!!?"
"Well . . ." the thought beamed out of her head before she could stop it, and for an instant she thought Xavier was going to have a heart attack.
"I'm going to bail Scott out of jail. If the kids aren't here when I get back . . ." He didn't finish the thought.
***
Merph the merc added the last girl to the growing pile of kids in the back of the van. "All right. Now, you kids be good, and you won't get hurt."
Jubilee probably said something very rude, but the gag in her mouth kept Merph from hearing it.
She pulled it out as the van started, then went to work getting her hands untied. "This sucks dead dog's nose. Who is this guy? Merph? What a name."
"Don't make fun of my name!" He shouted over the intercom. Jubilee stuck her tongue out at where she figured he was sitting.
"This is really lame. We've just been kidnapped by--" Skin didn't get to finish the thought as the van started down a very steep and bumpy hill. Everyone was jostled around for fifteen minutes before the thing finally stopped.
"My butt hurts." Jubilee complained.
"Mine too." Husk agreed.
"Everyone out! Now, you be nice little mutants and do what your uncle Merph the merc says!"
Jubilee rolled her eyes and shoved him out of the way and into the mud. He made a whiny noise and rubbed his derrière while standing back up. "That wasn't very nice."
Get over it, Jono said, then shoved him back down.
***
"We've got a little over an hour to find the kids, and that's if we're lucky!" Jean said to the assembled X-MEN. Bishop smirked. Those kids weren't ever coming back.
***
"I'm hungry. I want something to eat."
Merph sighed. "I already told you kid, we don't have anything to eat."
"Go get me some!"
Merph looked at the little teenage girl, her black hair bobbing. "If I get you something to eat, will you shut up?"
"Uh huh."
"Okay. Here." he walked to the cab of the van and pulled out an apple, then handed it over. "Happy?"
"I wanted cookies."
Merph glared at her. Jubilee settled for the apple, she was too hungry to fight over it.
"How cum she gets food?" Leech asked as he watched jealously while Jubilee crunched into her apple.
"Because she's old."
Leech crossed his arms over his chest and pouted. "I'm hungry. And bored."
"If I entertain you, will you leave me alone?"
"Yeah."
Merph sighed again. "What do you want to play?"
"Horsey!"
"Okay, we can play horsey. How do you play that?"
"You're the horsey, and I get to ride you!" With that Leech jumped onto the man's back, kicking him in the ribs. "Giddyup!"
"Ouch! OUCH! I'm going, I'm going."
Leech grinned as his "horsey" took off, galloping around the small clearing they were in.
Jono sidled up to Artie, then whispered in his ear. Artie cheered up right away.
Walking over to Franklin he conveyed what Jono had said using his pictographs, and Franklin agreed that it was a good idea. "Leech! We want to play Cowboys and Indians!"
"Okay! Over there, horsey!"
Merph galloped to were the boys sat, then plopped down on a handy rock. Immediately they started tying him up, first his hands and then his feet.
"Hey now, what do you kids think you're doing?"
"We're the cowboys, you're the Indian!"
"Oh, okay. Just be sure you don't tie me too tight."
Jubilee grinned. "They wouldn't do something like that. Wouldja guys?"
"Nope!"
After he was tied securely, and Jono made sure, everyone got back in the van and drove off.
***
"It's been an hour, the professor could be back any minute!" Jean wailed. The kids still couldn't be found. They were no where on the premises, and they weren't responding to any telepathic hails.
Jean was frantic. The door opened and Scott walked in, followed by Charles, who was still lecturing him. His head hung low and he made all the appropriate responses, saying "yes sir" and "no sir" as needed.
The door closed, and Xavier looked at Jean. "If the children haven't been found, I'm taking you all back to the mansion. You can consider this a failed mission."
Jean bit her lip and Scott looked horrified. "Well, sir, I'm sure that--"
She was interrupted as a large noise started to grow, and soon the most terrifying sight they'd ever seen burst through the door. A whole horde of teenagers, fighting no less.
Charles turned to them and gave them a telepathic hail. All of them stopped and listened.
"Where have you been?" He asked coldly.
Jubilee stepped forward, swallowing convulsively. "We were out picking flowers to cheer up the place!" She said, grabbing the flowers Paige had plucked on their way back, after Skin had crashed the van, and held them out to the professor. She really didn't want to go to military school. She liked it here, where she was boss.
Charles smiled. What a nice gesture! "And tell me, who wrote this paper?"
Jubilee looked at it, then handed it to Skin to see. With a perfectly straight face she said, "I've never seen this kind of trash before."
Professor Xavier seemed pleased and turned to the X-MEN. "It appears I was mistaken. Scott was obviously in jail through mistake. You may stay here." Jean felt a curious sense of terror that she was being made to stay here longer. Bishop screamed and ran back upstairs.
Fourteen days left . . .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Last chapter
** chapter 6 & 7
*** I never told that story
Hey everyone! The Name The N'Gari Eater Challenge is still on! You can either come up with something to name him, or tell me which of these is your fav!
Sqwark
Bob (^_-)
Munch
Derek
Irish
Teaser
Flick-Flack
That Little ~#@*$%¥!!!
Spot
N'Gari
Punishment
Pete Wisdom
#$&*#$#
Emplate
Fluffy
Yalittle--
Brainfart
Sicballs
Expletive
I would say who donated what, but I'm afraid that I'll be stoned! (though I will say that my older sister donated the last three and Fluffy! ) Donors, please write and tell me whether or not you want to take credit! -_-
J.
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