CHAPTER 366 ROOTS

CHAPTER 366 ROOTS

“You know, you’re very different from yesterday,” Kitty said. Annoyed but intrigued after I set her down outside.

“Am I?” I asked.

“Yes, you didn’t hardly talk at dinner before,” she admitted.

“What can I say? I’m in a good mood. But for now I need your help,” I said with a wolfish grin.

“What kind of help?” Kitty asked, quickly getting over my abrupt kidnapping. She and I had very minimal interaction before. She had known Anne for a while though so when I started “dating” Anne, Kitty was more receptive of me.

“I need your help to find a treasure,” I admitted.

“What are you? 12?” She asked, annoyed.

“Sometimes,” I said. “Look, I've been working on something here for a while. Have you ever noticed weird comings and goings at the school? You really think it’s normal to have perfect 10 model worthy teachers? All of them are gorgeous and look like they spend every waking moment in the gym.”

“They’re just health conscious,” Kitty said. “There is a big push in gym for us to stay active.”

“Gym class does not normally include sparring and fighting one another,” I said.

“Professor McCoy said it’s important to know self-defense,” she defended.

“It is good. But normal for a school of kids out in the boonies.”

“What are you saying?” Kitty asked.

“There is a secret part of this school. Something they don’t let everyone in on. I haven’t seen Professor X since I got here. I’ve heard he comes and goes, but I’ve never seen him. Have you?”

She shook her head. “Not since he found me.”

“See, if this is his school he should be around more. I think I found where he and the secrets are held,” I said.

“Where?”

“Right here,” I said, extending my arms out. We were on a small path leading away from the school. On either side was a patch of a park.

“What?”

“Underneath us, there is a secret passage,” I said. Bending down I put my hand on the ground. “In fact underneath every path from the school there is an underground passage. About 10 feet down, but there.”

“How do you know?” She asked, looking around.

“I can feel it, trust me,” I said. The void of Spiritual Energy was a dead giveaway. “I followed all of these paths. They interconnect like a spider web around this whole campus. I think something is going on here that none of us know about.”

2 men coming down a hall a hundred feet away. I only got a glimpse as they passed through my hall, but it was enough. 1 was a shorter man, only about 5 foot 6 inches tall. His black hair spiked, he had huge mutton chops on the side of his head. Pure muscle and ready to fight, it was easy to know it had been Logan aka Wolverine. Behind him had been a giant of a man at least 6 foot 5 inches tall. Just as muscular he had a buzzed haircut and had to be Colossus.

“Let’s go,” I said, speeding up as I jogged in the direction they went. Kitty cursed but ran after me.

Our footfalls echoing in the long tube-like halls I made it to the crossroad they had crossed and began walking in the direction they left motion activated lights on. Kitty stuck to me, she tried to get my attention about heading toward the school but I ignored her. My quest wanted me to know the secret of the facility. I planned to find out.

After another few branches we came to a large room. A catwalk ahead of us there were stairs that went down into what appeared to be a huge hangar. Inside was a jet. Sleek black exterior, short wings at the back, it was obviously the X-Men’s ship. Called the Blackbird or something it was an ultra-fast ship that I thought could even go into space.

“What is that?” She asked.

“A plane,” I said. Risking it I moved closer. On the metal grating catwalk that looked over the hangar I noticed Wolverine and Colossus talking to someone. I moved over and began to inch my way down the stairs so I could get a better angle to see the stranger they were talking to.

“Listen, bub. I don’t care who you are. You don’t just show up here and start demanding we check out this or that,” Wolverine growled. He appeared to be more like the comic version than the Hugh Jackman version. Shorter, bigger and bulkier muscles, and more pissed off. He chewed on a cigar as he spoke. “We have other things to worry about.”

“And what is that, exactly? Teaching classes? Logan, I recruited you because you could literally go on forever. Never tire, never die, at least you haven’t yet,” the stranger said. He wore a dark blue suit with a black trench coat over it. I couldn’t see his face yet. I moved down again. “I have given you all a lot of leeway to do what you want. For this allowance, I expect help.”

“I work for the Professor,” Wolverine said. “We are willing to help, just get his approval and-”

“X is incommunicado. Since he finished his little toy he has been spending more-” The man stopped talking as I finally saw his face. It was that of a black man. Which was good, I preferred the black version. Gruff face and eye patch it was easy to see that it was Nick Fury. In the early comics the head of SHIELD was white, but lately his renditions had been black. Taking the physical description of Samuel L. Jackson, it was the version of Nick Fury I preferred..

“Why is a kid staring at me?” Fury asked as he continued to study me.

“What the hell?” Wolverine asked.

“Just...doing uh...scavenger hunt,” I said. “Hey, I found a 1 eyed guy, wasn’t that on the list?” I asked, walking back the way I had come.

As Wolverine ran for me I grabbed Kitty who had become frozen in shock. Throwing her over my shoulder I back tracked, the lights turning on as I came to each hallway I moved some Nen to my body, kicking off the ground with increased power.

It wasn’t long until Wolverine was running down the hall after us. The small man sounded like a freight train as he only sped up.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” I said. I knew I should probably just stop and take whatever punishment was offered, but I couldn’t help but run from the feral man.

“He’s gaining!” Kitty yelled from behind me.

“I know,” I said. Feeling someone ahead I took a turn, trying to work my way toward the school. I began taking every turn I could. More rooms around us I ignored them as I stuck to the halls. I became trapped between 2 halls with people in them.

Jean Grey yelled, “Hey!” As we ran past. The steel floor turning into concrete we were closer to the school but I threw Kitty to the side as Wolverine barreled toward me.

The shorter man was like a cannonball as he extended his arms my way. No metal claws out at least, I braced myself with Nen. Empowering my body I ducked down before he grabbed me and took his collar in hand. Turning him over me I forgot he was so heavy. Almost 400 pounds of muscle and metal I barely got him flipped over my body.

Landing on the concrete floor with an oompf Wolverine cursed and moved to get back up. I grabbed Kitty and moved toward the stairs just ahead. But as I did I noticed a man I had forgotten about. A little taller than me, brown hair, red glasses, it was Scott Summers, aka Cyclops.

“What the hell is going on here?” He asked.

I breathed in and out heavily. Looking around I offered, “Game of tag?” Scott frowned and I knew the jig was up.