「 The Professor & I 」VOLUME II

(263) A Little Girl

Charles' POV

"Professor!" Scott shouted furiously, jolting my eyes away from Raven's appalled face.

I turned my gaze towards the left, watching Scott hastily, but more importantly savagely, charging towards us with even Jean unable to hold him back. His actions clearly mirrored the displeasure in his voice as he forcefully hurled me out of Raven's arms and smoothly transferred me onto his own back.

"Scott, that's enough. She's fine," I asserted sternly, firmly grabbing his hand that aimed to reach for the blast toggle on his visor.

"Professor-" Scott retaliated in a rebellious tone.

"Scott, would you just get me to Cerebro, please?" I requested cordially when Jean gasped, staring at me with a gaze brimming with fear.

"Jean?" Scott sputtered nervously.

"Magneto has Lynn trapped inside again," Jean revealed fearfully and shakily cupped her mouth.

"It's targeting humans now," Raven elucidated solemnly as she surrounded her arms snugly around Jean, gently mollifying her, and Jean trustingly reciprocated the friendly cuddle, indulging herself in the solace it provided.

Suddenly, the earth rocked again, a single quake but seemingly a little more devastating than before, and brief sparks burst from the pipes decorating the ceiling in a convoluted pattern. Deafening sirens followed to ring throughout the premises and flashy red lights began flaring around us, intimidating the area with an obvious warning of danger.

"What's that?" Raven questioned in an anxious tone.

Faintly detected in the background were distinctly panicky soldiers alarmed by the dials flushed to the maximum of their stress gauges. The horrifically rising measurements registered by their apparatus surely hinted the wiseness of an immediate exit, triggering the flustered subordinates of Stryker to frantically flee the base.

"The dam's ruptured. It's going to flood water into the spillway. It's trying to relieve the pressure," I enlightened pensively.

"In a few minutes, we'll all be underwater," Jean elaborated with a grave expression.

"Fuck," Scott cursed heatedly under his breath.

Promptly rushing towards Cerebro, Scott easily tackled the short distance spanning over one remaining corner with his swift paces and the ladies trailed closely behind.

As anticipated, Erik's gang had already disappeared and were just heading out of the facility at that very moment we gained sight of Storm and the others crowded before the rugged circular door, a dirty mimic of the one residing back in our mansion.

With her arms dearly clutched around her comrade, Jubilee leaned closely against Storm, yearning nothing but to bury her shivery and traumatized figure beneath the cape that rippled kindly under the ventilators.

Amidst the bunch of distraught kids, including Kitty, Artie, and a handful of others, frozen in their tracks, pyjamas wrecked and stained with sooty patches and gunky blotches, Kurt stood similarly stunned, suspicious to advance.

"What is this?" Kurt enquired tentatively, his invariably thick German accent slicing the air crisply.

"Cerebro," Storm answered dolefully.

"Storm!" Scott bellowed, mindlessly trudging up to her at the far front, and his booming howl coupled with those aggressive paces undeniably startled Jubilee who instinctively flinched, whimpering quietly in Storm's embrace.

"Shush, it's alright. It's just Scott being an ass," Storm teased in a lighthearted tone, delicately stroking Jubilee's back, as she glared disapprovingly at Scott but her harsh gaze rapidly faltered.