Midas Touch ➸ Taekook

- Twenty-seventh -

"Here, drink this, it'll do you good."

Taehyung accepted the cup of hot chocolate Auroro handed him without a word, wrapping his fingers feverishly around the steaming mug. He was currently in the Institute's lounge, wrapped in a thick blanket, surrounded by all the X-Men. To say the least, this intrusion had cast a pall over tonight's big party. However, as soon as Namjoon and Jin heard about it, they rushed over to Taehyung.

The boy brought the drink to his lips, blowing slightly before taking a large sip. The liquid burned his throat, but he was happy to accept the pain: it brought him back to reality. Because no matter how much he heard the others talking around him, sometimes even asking him questions, he couldn't concentrate on them: he replayed the scene over and over again, trying to understand what had happened.

The attack made no sense to him. That someone could break into the Institute without Professor Xavier spotting him was impressive enough, but the man was probably not there by chance. He had asked Taehyung to follow him. And it remained to be seen whether he was looking for a hostage from the Institute, or whether his target was Taehyung in particular.

"... hyung. Taehyung."

The boy snapped out of his thoughts, looking up at a worried Jin. He'd zoned out again, and this time for quite a long time. He looked around the room and saw that Jungkook and Namjoon were inspecting the broken window.

Jungkook. Ever since the incident, which had happened about fifteen minutes earlier, he hadn't seemed to relax. His whole body was tense and his gaze, usually playful and charming, was now so cold it made him shudder.

"Can you see anything?" asked the Cajun, his gaze riveted on Namjoon.

The X-Men's leader had knelt down next to the broken glass, looking for a trace of blood, or the slightest clue that might tell them more about the man who had broken in here. But he shook his head, looking serious.

"No, and I've already combed the rest of the room. He didn't leave anything. We'll just have to hope Logan has better luck."

Jungkook nodded slowly, looking thoughtful. Despite his shock, Taehyung couldn't help noticing that this was probably the first time the two men had spoken more or less normally, without mistrust. Normally, these two couldn't stand each other.

Namjoon straightened up and turned to Hoseok, whose eyes were glued to his phone.

"Have we heard anything from Logan?"

The boy looked at his phone again, but shook his head, looking despondent. Logan had gone in pursuit of the stranger, saying he could still smell him nearby. But the smell was so faint that he had little chance of catching up with him.

And just then, the man crossed the door, looking visibly annoyed. Everyone tensed, sensing a destructive aura emanating from the X-Man. He was accompanied by Professor Xavier, who didn't seem to be in the best of moods.

"So?" Jin asked nervously.

Logan grumbled in reply.

"I more or less managed to follow him into the forest, but after that I lost track of him completely."

"What about you, Professor? Did you see anything on the surveillance cameras?"

Xavier's gaze darkened immediately, he looked worried.

"No. They'd all been cut off. Which means that our intruder had prepared well."

"So he wasn't there by chance."

"Do you think this could be linked to the mutant traffic?"

"In any case, the timing is perfect. We know we've broken up most of the trafficking. They probably wanted to intimidate us."