「 The Professor & I 」VOLUME II

(152) Bobby Drake

Charles' POV

Surely, that distressed call on our hotline was more than mistimed but knowing Lynn's zeal that paralleled my own passion to help others, her desires to get to that little girl was no less than her reluctance to leave my study. Lightly pecking her on the forehead to give her an intimate gesture that would not lead to another make out session was all I could afford in the spur of the moment before she hurriedly left the mansion with her X-Men apprentices, Jean and Storm.

All the pioneering faculty had now one or more disciples whom had shadowed us during our lessons in school before they officially joined us in teaching. The X-Men was split into the same teams that were placed on a rotating schedule to handle the recurring yet sometimes trivial missions to pick up and settle various young mutants around the planet.

Although her mind was always inside mine and the beating of her heart seemed to palpitate just next to my own with her presence always being felt no matter how far she went away, the fact that she was not physically around still had my thoughts wondering about her safety. I returned to my readings, in hope to distract myself, but before I could even sip on the cup of cooled tea Lynn had meticulously prepared for me, Hank came knocking.

"We have a situation in Boston," he informed solemnly.

I sighed, setting down my drink and papers before heading with him down to the basement. With a miniaturised version of Cerebro that functioned by using an artificial duplicate of my brainwaves recorded by Hank, anomalous mutant activities could be detected in the nearby region, albeit extending only as far as the East Coast.

Limping to the the screen of the map in the region, Hank powered it on and a blinking speck of red light continuously flashed at a location that appeared to be a sheriff station. Getting the coordinates to Cerebro, I subtly ran through the memories of the young boy confined within the dim cell labelled 'Drake' and apart from sensing his natural fear and anxiety, his mutation was one I found to be rather intriguing.

Considering that Raven's unit consisted of Kurt, Jubilee and herself had already been sent out to Ireland in the morning to gather a girl who was claimed to have incapacitated her classmates when she screamed, and Erik's squad of Wanda and Lorna had also travelled to Sydney, in search of a young mutant who accidentally burnt down his entire house in the suburbs when his mother turned on the stove, I took up the assignment together with Scott, leaving Hank and Peter who were last on our roster to take care of the house and recuperate from their injuries sustained from their previous operation.

With evening setting in, Scott piloted our X-Jet as we departed the school premises and we promptly arrived in the said county. Mentally shielding our large plane from plain sight even though it was already rather well-camouflaged in the night, Scott and I headed towards the authorities.

"Why don't you try dealing with this yourself?" I challenged Scott, giving him a freehand but almost instantly regretted it when he conspicuously blew up one of the walls surrounding our target with his optic beams to gain access.

Once again masking the true devastation from the humans by psychic manipulation, I shook my head and trailed behind the impulsive youngster. Stopping at the distance, I merely watched Scott interact with Bobby, the only one other than us who witnessed the entire destruction and was stunned by the scene.

"My name is Scott and I'm here to help you," Scott introduced but his staggering stance nullified his sincerity as he towered over the frightened boy curled up in the corner.

"I don't want your help," Bobby replied sheepishly.

"I'm a teacher at Xavier's School for the Gifted. Come with me and I can help you," Scott asserted again, oblivious to how uneasy Bobby had become as he regardlessly closed in.