「 The Professor & I 」VOLUME II

(264) Stole My Heart

Charles' POV

Rooting her feet solidly to the ground, Storm spread her arms out to her sides and gusts of tenacious wind rapidly howled within the enclosed chamber. Her luscious white curls fluttered violently in under the turbulent drafts and soon, the surroundings were layered under a misty veil.

Quickly precipitating amidst the artificially generated gale was neither curtains of rain nor a relentless downpour. Sashaying in was not a vigorous monsoon but a mere glimpse of the actual devastation a raging blizzard would have brought.

Kurt naturally shuddered, diligently channeling hot puffs to his palms but obviously failed to curb their prevailing tremble. As the heat of the sealed vault continually evaporated at the work of Storm, specks of frost began to collect on Kurt and all around the floor.

Gradually, both illusions started to waver, with reality bleeding in slowly into every picture.

On the replicated interior of the sleek dome, Lynn's exhausted breaths were escaping her parched lips as small whiffs of fine clouds. Intermittently, the scene would blur into a fuzzy mess before readily snapping back to scatters of illuminated constellations projected on the polished panes.

"Focus... Find all the humans..." The image of me appealed urgently, heaving erratically as he became increasingly agitated.

Simultaneously, the one in the other hallucination was not spared from the biting environment, growing with frustration as Storm adamantly provoked her with wildly dropping temperatures.

"Stop it!" The young brunette barked wildly but Storm definitely had no intention to cease her doing.

As the waves of snow progressively accumulated into thick blankets across entire arena, even Kurt had succumbed to the frigid conditions, laying low on the ground with his body desperately curled up.

Likewise, as Jason's physical frame was compromised, the stability of each fictitious scene steadily depreciated, fading in and out from the actual setting.

Flashing back and forth from the projections casted was a shoddy space, identical to the landscape greeting Kurt and Storm, but with the main control deck of Cerebro expectedly situated at the current location of the unidentified girl. The bridge similarly was not empty as it was plainly perceived, but with Jason's exotic wheelchair stationed at a distance behind the cheap stool Lynn was strictly confined to.

With her arms securely fastened together behind the wooden backrest by a pair of handcuffs, she sat obliviously on the basic dining chair. Even without the increasingly frequent images of her shivering, it was clear that her skimpily clothed and terribly drained physique was not tolerating the harsh weather well but it was not just her tragic predicament that had me frowning.

"Scott, put me down, please," I appealed quietly as I gently tapped on his shoulder.

"What's wrong? Are you unwell?" Scott whispered in an apprehensive tone as he swiftly rested me to the meshed flooring and Raven scurried over with a vexed expression, both of them furiously examining me.

"Stryker's classified documents are locked in the second room down the hall. First drawer of the cabinet to the left of his desk. Evidence for the President's assassination might be in there. I need you to get them," I addressed Scott softly and he compliantly nodded, albeit unwillingly handing me into Raven's arms.

"Scott, wait," Raven blurted, hurriedly grabbing onto his arm, and he expectedly reciprocated an annoyed face as his mission was impeded.