Telky (Charles Xavier Love Story)

Chapter 24

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To say Hank was worried would be right. Concerned would also be an appropriate term. Yet he did not come up with a solution to his Charles problem. It wasn't a problem per se, but some would call it that. Hank thought that maybe in the next couple of months he would snap out of it, but Seraphina thought otherwise. She, however,  had lost contact and avoided his calls. It had been a little over two years since her last check-in, and Hank worried greatly about this--when he thought about it. Indeed, it had been a few long years since she lived in the mansion. Seraphina had been the main groundskeeper, therefore all the shrubbery had fallen into an unkempt state. 

Hank had busied himself with the constant need of the serum that temporarily shut down the men's X-gene. He also continued his research into making a cure. It wasn't like Beast was some useful everyday power, and people would run away if he walked down the street blue and furry. These two ongoing projects of his was what kept him going in the long months of isolation. He had also gotten very familiar with the local grocery store.

It had been awhile since he had seen a friend. A real friend of his, that he wasn't entirely awkward around. Not many of those remained in this world though, and it wasn't like he was a social butterfly of late.

Hank had been catching up on the two hours' sleep he had missed the night before when the almost foreign sound of the doorbell awoke him. Startled by the noise, he fell out of the round stool he had been seated on and brought a few test tubes of harmless chemicals crashing down to the floor with him. 

"This had better be a joke," he grumbled, washing his hands because of the liquids that had covered them.

Entering the foyer he could already distinguish the silhouette of a large man on the other side of the wooden doors. Hank opened the door enough to could poke his face through. Aviator sunglasses and a haircut that reminded Hank of a cat greeted him.

"Can I help you?" Hanks asked politely, with a less than polite tone. He really couldn't be bothered--poor guy probably had the wrong address by the look on his face.

"Uh--yeah. What happened to the school?" Hank didn't respond immediately. Maybe he wasn't so lost after all, just mistaken. "The school's been shut for years," Hank told the man, then added as an afterthought, "Are you a parent?" 

"Sure as hell hope not," was the man's quick reply. Hank was losing patience for this guy as fast as a brick thrown in a pond. "Who are you?"

"I'm Hank. Hank McCoy. I look after the house now," Hank told him. The man sported a brief smile and lowered his aviators an inch to look at him closely. "You're Beast? Look at you. I guess you're a late bloomer."

This rattled Hank to his core. First, this strange man shows up asking about a close school, then casually throws his 'code name' into the conversation. "I don't know what you're talking about, but I'm going to have to ask you to leave," Hank said quickly. It sounded guilty in his own ears, and trying to close the door proved pointless as the man stuck his foot in the gap, then continued pressing against it as Hank pushed back.

"So, where's the Professor?"

Hank eyed the stranger, trying to control his breathing. "There's no professor here," Hank grunted. He heard a short chuckle.

"You're pretty strong for a scrawny kid. You sure there's not a little Beast in there?"

"No, he's not here," Hank said. Dang. His statement revealed part of the truth he wanted to conceal.

"Come on, Beast. Come on, Beastie," the man taunted. Hank had to give him credit, he had a lot of brute strength as he demonstrated when he finally won the little match and forced his way into the mansion.

"No," Hank puffed, recovering from the stumble he took in an effort to get away from the swinging door. "I said the school's closed. You need to leave," he repeated.

"Not until I see the Professor," the man replied again. Hank sighed, trying to stay calm. This guy irritated him greatly. "I told you, there's no Professor here anymore."

The man spun around and put a hand on his shoulder in an almost friendly way. "Look kid, you and I are gonna be good friends." Before Hank could consider the words the man had said a fist flew into his face knocking him back on the floor. His anger was free now, and he groaned in pain from the floor as the man continued to shout "Professor!" while climbing the stairs. Hank growled, and he took note that it wasn't close to human anymore. He didn't care. This guy needed to leave.

With a few great leaps Hank was on top of the man which sent them both cascading down the steps making a great deal of noise. A brief fist fight sent them both flying, the man into the wall and Hank into the air before he grabbed the chandelier with his feet.

Hank was ready to launch another attack when Charles' slurred accented voice cut through the air. "Hank? What's going on here?" Charles, still in a disheveled robe stumbled down the stairs and stopped before them.

"Professor?" The man sounded almost surprised. Charles cringed.

"Please don't call me that," he muttered loud enough to hear. Hank felt confused. "Why, you know this guy?" He asked.

"Yeah, he looks slightly familiar. Get off the bloody chandelier, Hank," Charles said. Hank jumped to the ground, his blue skin hiding the faint blush of his embarrassment.

"You can walk?" Hank and Charles exchanged the briefest of glances. "You're a perceptive one," Charles said sarcastically.

"I thought Erik--"

"Which makes it slightly perplexing that you missed our sign on the way in. This is private property, my friend. I'm going to have to ask you to leave," Charles insisted. The man didn't step down.

"Well I'm afraid I can't do that...because I was sent here for you," the man said while shifting from one foot to the other.

"Well, tell whoever it was that I'm busy," Charles told the man.

"That's gonna be a little tricky," the man said, "since the person who sent me was you." Hank and Charles were both quiet before Charles started to laugh. 

"What?"

"About fifty years from now."

What?

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Woooo! A chapter from Hank's POV? What do you think Seraphina's up to?

Feel free to comment, vote, whatever :)