Flickers (Charles Xavier)

Chapter 12

Logan shook his head in confusion as the dark-haired woman that had emerged from the mansion stormed past him.

"If you're here to see anyone at this school, don't bother. They clearly don't take to guests very well." She muttered bitterly, and Logan shrugged casually.

"I think I might just be able to turn that around."

He hoped that was true, but he didn't feel entirely confident as he approached the heavy oak wood doors of the mansion. The building that he had grown to know as the school currently looked like a derelict old house where no one lived. The situation surely had to be worse than he'd imagined... Charles had barely told him much information regarding his state in 1973, and he wondered what the hell it was going to be like.

He knocked on the door and shook his thoughts away quickly. A moment later, a young man with dark hair and glasses appeared in the crack between the frame and the door. He frowned in confusion at Logan, his eyes flickering for the briefest moments to the two cars still on the driveway before returning to Logan's face.

"Can I help you?" The young man asked, and Logan nodded, his own frown deepening.

"Uh... Yeah. What happened to the school?"

"The school's been shut for years." The young man paused, "Are you a parent?"

Logan snorted, caught off guard by the question, "I sure as hell hope not. Who are you?"

The man paused as if sizing up Logan, "Hank. Hank McCoy. I look after the house now."

Things were starting to fall into place, and Logan couldn't help but smile, "You're Beast? Look at you. I guess you're a late bloomer."

Hank appeared quite startled, and he started to push against the door, "I don't know what you're talking about. But I'm going to ask you to leave."

Logan pushed against the door to stop it from closing, desperate not to lose hope yet, "So where's the Professor?"

"There's no Professor here," Hank replied, pushing the door more aggressively and taking Logan by surprise.

"You're pretty strong for a scrawny kid. You sure there's not a little Beast in there?" He joked, and Hank shook his head quickly.

"No. He's not here."

"Come on Beast. Come on Beastie," Logan teased, and just as Hank tried to protest, Logan pushed through the door and stormed into the mansion.

"Hey!" Hank tried to stop him, "I said the school is closed. You need to leave."

"Not until I see the Professor," Logan retaliated, hoping everything would become a bit simpler soon.

Suddenly he felt a hand grab onto his shoulder as Hank pulled him back, "There's no Professor here- I told you that." He paused, "We've already had an unwanted visitor today, and we really wouldn't like another one."

"We?" Logan questioned loudly, "So there is someone else here!"

He hesitated, glancing at Hank's frustrated face before sighing, "Look kid, you and I are going to be good friends." He pulled his fist back and punched Hank in the face, causing him to reel back in pain.

"Professor!" Logan shouted, turning to glance over his shoulder just as the Beast that he recognised came hurtling towards him. He stepped sideways quickly, and a moment later heard an English accent from the stairs behind him.

"Hank! What's going on? I thought I told you not to answer the door again-" The young man who had emerged at the top of the stairs stopped short, frowning when he caught sight of Logan.