Paul felt the weariness rolling off Scott the second he walked off the X-Jet. Scott had been gone for almost a week, and that had been a week that Paul had not had fun with. He spent his time waiting for the updates that they received from Scott and Peter every few hours. And worrying about his boyfriend and friend consumed the anytime in between.
Paul had been highly irritated with the Professor when he'd refused to let Paul go along on the mission. He'd gotten over it pretty quickly and settled for training with the others while he waited for Scott's safe return.
"How'd it go?" Paul asked as he hugged Scott tightly. He gave Pete a quick hug before taking Scott's pack from him as they walked back towards the resident wing.
"We never saw Mattox, Jared, or that girl at all. But we did manage to catch up with a few of their group." Scott looked tired, hopefully some sleep would take care of that. Paul knew that they hadn't gotten into an major scraps, but they had spent hours without rest tracking this new enemy.
"We did find out they call themselves the Triumvirate, though." Scott continued.
"With the girl, Mattox, and Jared being the leaders of the group." Peter added in. "They aren't incredibly large in number, but they are growing."
"They were hitting all those banks to fund their operation. Food, clothing, and what not. We didn't really find out that much about them, but we do know where and when they are hitting next."
"And its not good." The native Russian said. "And its not local." Paul looked at his two teammates with confusion.
"North Korea, a plutonium and uranium refinery to be exact." Scott finished.
"That doesn't sound good." Paul said as the three stepped in the elevator to the second level of the mansion. "The Professor wanted to see y'all when you got back. He's waitin' in his office with Logan. I can take your stuff to your rooms if y'all wanna head that way."
"Thanks." Scott answered and Pete handed Paul his bag as well. The elevator door opened and the two stepped off. "See you in the Professor's office?"
"Yeah, I'll drop this stuff off and meet ya there." Paul told him, with that the doors closed once more and Paul headed up a level. It only took a few minutes for him to get the bags taken care of, then he was on his way back to Xavier's office. He stepped into the office without knocking and stood behind the chair Scott sat in as he laid out their mission for Xavier and Logan.
"We didn't find out for sure what they were planning to do in North Korea, but we know where they are hitting. And I'm pretty sure we can assume what they are going to do with whatever they take." Scott told the two.
"Did you find out when they plan to strike at the refinery?" Xavier asked for behind his desk.
"Yes," Peter answered him. "Four days form now. In the early morning."
"Well, that at least gives the others time to get back." Paul said from where he stood. Logan finally acknowledged him for the first time that day. Logan had been giving him the brush off lately and Paul wasn't sure why.
"Where are the others at?" Scott questioned.
"I given them time to visit their families for a few days. It getting close to Christmas and all. I have a few feelings about the upcoming months and I'm not sure if they will get the opportunity at time soon again." Xavier explained.
"Ororo and Hank headed into New York City for the day since they didn't really have any family to visit." Paul told Peter and Scott.
"Why didn't you go with them?" Scott asked. "You've got to need a break too."
"I had plenty of a break waitin' for you to come back, and that's exactly why I didn't go with them. You were coming back today. Yeah, I was gonna miss that." The past week was the first time that Scott and Paul had been apart for more than a day in the time that they'd been together. Paul hadn't liked it very much to say the least.
"The others are coming back in two days. That will give us enough time to make all the plans we'll need too. Scott, why don't you all take some time off as well. I'm sure you need the downtime." Charles suggested.
"Sounds good to me." Scott said with a smile and Peter didn't look displeased.
"I guess that concludes the meeting then. You guys have fun, be careful though." Xaiver told them as he rolled from his desk towards the door. "I have a colleague coming to visit, so I'll be my office if I'm needed. Get out and have some fun, just be back by tomorrow evening."
"What do y'all want to do?" Paul asked. He was a little excited about getting away from the mansion for awhile. "We've got a little more than a day and half. Any ideas?"
"Sleeping?" Scott said hopefully.
"We could call Hank and Ororo and meet them in the city." Peter suggested.
"A New York night out on the town could be fun. And its still early, so you could get some sleep before we'd need to go." Paul assured Scott with a soft pat on the shoulder.
"Sounds great to me. Its been awhile since we've been on a date." Scott told his boyfriend as he stood and walked around the large arm chair. He wrapped his arms around Paul and hugged him tight, picking him up off the ground. Scott laughed a little, he knew that Paul didn't like when he picked him up.
Paul smiled despite himself and hugged Scott back firmly. "We've only been on one date, dear." Paul let the sarcasm bleed into his sentence because he knew that Scott didn't like being called dear.
"What'd say, Pete? Clubbing cool with you?" Paul questioned with his chin on Scott's shoulder.
"It is, but I think I need some sleep before hand. I'm going to bed." With that, Peter stood and walked out the Professor's office.
"I think he's right on the money. I'm going to bed, too. You coming?" Scott separated himself from and headed for the door.
"Um, its been a week since I've gotten any." Paul smiled. "Do you think that the answer to that question will actually be no?"
Scott just laughed and grabbed Paul's hand. In less than a minute they were walking into Scott's room, and he merely collapsed in his bed, combat uniform and all. Paul didn't miss a beat and he started with Scott's boots. And before we knew it they were stripped down to their underwear and laying under the covers.
Paul pulled his boyfriends arm over his waist and spooned up against him. He might of tried something, but he knew how tired Scott was. And sure enough, in almost less than a minute Scott's breathing became even and he was gone.
Paul fell into a light sleep himself. He hadn't been sleeping quite as soundly in the last week that Scott had been gone, so he was happy for the rest.
`Paul! Scott!' Paul heard the Professor's voice as clearly in his head as he would if the man had been standing right beside him. Paul shot up in the bed as the Professor's call scared him from his sleep. Paul's mind cleared from the sleep in seconds and he heard a loud crash from somewhere in the mansion.
"Scott, wake up!" Paul said scrambling from the bed and pulling into his shirt and pants, as well as throwing Scott's to him. "Something's wrong."
He tried to call to the Professor but he was suddenly not there. He expanded his mind outward, trying to sense any emotion around. What he felt startled him.
More minds than he had time to count were flooding the halls of the school. Some of them felt anxious. Some felt anger. All of them projected a sensation of determination. He knew instantly they were soldiers.
"There are soldiers in the school." Paul said to Scott who was pulling his shoes on. "There are soldiers in the school and I think they've already gotten to Charles."
"How many?" Scott switched right to damage control without a twitch. It always amazed Paul no matter how many battles he went through with his man.
"A lot, I'm not sure how many exactly." Paul tired to focus, but he didn't a much more clear picture. "They've secured the main floor and are working their way through this one. They haven't made into the subbasement yet."
"We need to get to Peter, then we'll go after the Professor. You can't contact either one of them?" Scott asked as he walked to the door.
"Its as if Xavier disappeared, but it feel like Peter is already fighting the intruders. I'm sorry, I can't tell for sure." Paul wished Jean was there. She'd be able to tell what was going on without much effort, and Paul was struggling to tell what was happening a few hundred feet away. He hoped his powers weren't going on the blink again. That would be bad. That would be really bad.
"And Wolverine?" Out all of the anger pulsing through the mansion right now Paul felt it in one place in particular. The rage poured through the area on the mansion without forgiveness. Paul knew that Logan was ripping the soldiers apart.
"He's fine."
"Let's move." Scott moved swiftly towards the door.
"Wait!" Paul shouted barely know even knowing why he was shouting. He didn't know what was suddenly wrong, but he knew danger was there. Right there with them. He pulled Scott away from the door and threw a shield around them both at the same time.
The explosion blew apart the door and half the frame. The debris flew around the X-men and once it settled Paul sat Scott down. They both slowly head for the door and peered into the hall. They could hear the gun shots from the other parts of the house immediately. The soldier that had thrown the grenade in front their door came into view. The man rounded the corner of the hall quickly and opened fire on the two without hesitation.
Paul threw out his hand and sent the man flying into the nearby wall. It took only seconds for two of the soldier's fellow combatants to turn the corner and open fire on the X-men. Scott easily took the two down optic blasts and he and Paul moved down the hall towards the stairs.
"Why are these people here, Scott?" Paul couldn't figure out why these armed people were in his home.
"I don't know, and I really don't care. We're moving them out." Scott answered stiffly. "Is Peter still on this floor?"
Paul tried to concentrate. He was pretty sure he felt Peter still fighting on this floor. "Yes." Paul told him.
"Ok, I'll go to him. I'm guessing that the mass of their forces are still on the main floor. You'll be able to take on more of them at once. So, you go see what happened to Professor. Meet us in the subbasement in fifteen minutes regardless of if you find the Professor or not. Okay?"
"Gotcha." Paul answered his field commander. Paul moved ahead as Cyclops continued down the hall.
He figured that an approach from above would probably more productive to his needs. So, as the hall ended and the vaulted ceilings began, Paul took to air pressed himself as close to the ceiling as possible.
Paul was a bit taken back when he saw the number of intruders teaming through the school. There had to be at least twenty or thirty in the main corridor. And Paul could tell by the way they were moving other soldiers through foyer there were quite a few more. He couldn't figure out what would have happen for the U.S. government to send such a large military force against the X-men. Last time Paul looked they had been working together.
Paul moved only ten or fifteen feet above the soldiers' towards the Professor's office. He knew when he reached where he was going he'd have to fight, but avoiding it now was good. The more soldiers he saw pouring into to the house the more pissed off he became. He been luck enough to put on some dark color clothes that helped him blend into the wall that he was currently hugging.
He finally reached the Professor's office and all the soldiers he'd known would be there were there. These guys definitely had this planned out. Paul dropped from the ceiling and threw shield around himself. The games were over. Paul grabbed all six soldiers that were directly in front of him and pinned them to the wall.
Paul's ears rang as shots from soldiers behind him bounced harmlessly away from him. He pulled the six soldiers already in his grasp towards him then sent them flying into the wall hard enough to knock them unconscious. He picked up a few random objects sitting around the foyer, a bookcase and a chair or two, to finish off the remaining five troopers in the room. Paul moved quickly. He knew he didn't have a lot of time until more troopers would flood the room.
He pulled one of the soldiers level with his eyes. "Listen up buddy. I don't know what y'all are doing here, but you're gonna tell me pretty quick."
The soldier groaned softly from the impact in which he hit the wall. Paul shook him slightly to try and stir from his daze. "You make this easy for you, or I can make it pretty damn difficult."
Paul focused his mind and centered himself. He thought of the times he'd been most frightened in his life. When he had realized his mother was going to die. When his brother had finally lost it and left home. When Sam, his best friend, had nearly died in a car accident when they were thirteen.
He took all that emotion and sent it barreling into the soldiers' mind. The man's reaction was immediately with a scream so wretched that Paul had wished he hadn't heard it. Especially since he knew he was the cause of it.
"Tell me why you're here!" He shook the man again. "Please don't make do that again cause I will if I have too. Tell me now!"
"The mutant threat must be eliminated. You've gone too far this time. Took too many lives for us to ignore it anymore." The soldier finally said breathlessly.
"We haven't hurt anyone. What do you think we did?" Paul asked again, but the soldier didn't respond. His time was running out. He sent another wave of fear through the man. This time, however, it didn't help. He over loaded the man's mind and he passed out.
Limply, the soldier's body crumbled to the ground. Paul headed for Xavier's office and threw open the door. To his confusion Xavier wasn't there. Paul didn't think they'd had time to take the Professor out through the front. So that left the shattered window as their only option.
Paul ran to the window, and sure enough he saw two soldiers carrying away the Professor. Paul wasn't sure how two men had over powered the most powerful telepathy on the planet so easily, but he'd figure that out later.
Paul jumped through the window and landed softly in the damp grass. He could hear the helicopters that had brought the soldiers here, as well as the commands being screamed at the soldiers.
The two soldiers that had Xavier's unconscious body weren't too far ahead of him. He caught them easily with his mind and sent them flying. The Professor's body fell towards the ground and Paul caught it before it hit. He pulled Xavier's body to him as quickly as he could. Paul turned back towards the window, but before he had gotten to far with the Professor, two very bright lights came from nowhere.
Paul couldn't easily see past the lights, but he'd already had too much experience with sentinels not to know he was dealing with one.
Turning to the face the robot, he knew immediately something was off. This robot was much larger that any one he'd dealt with before. Paul was almost too slow to catch a green massed that came at him from the sentinel. The mass surrounded the shield Paul was using around Xavier and himself and hardened instantly.
Paul struggled briefly to break the suddenly hard substance, but he did manage to brake free. He faced the machine and threw everything he had at it. The telekinetic bolt he the robot and it staggered back a bit, but regained itself easily. It's yellow lasers ripped through the ground which Paul stood, but Paul shield kept them safe.
Paul tried to physically lift the sentinel and move it. It was too heavy for him to manage. He sent another bolt at it, but with the same effect. He was running out of options, he had too do something.
Running was the something he tried. Pulling both himself and the Professor through the window and back into Xavier's office, Paul quickly moved deeper into the mansion. His goal was to get to Cyclops and Colossus now. He could still feel Wolverine fighting in the east wing of the mansion.
`Logan! Meet in the basement now!" Paul tried to send to him. He knew that it probably wouldn't come out in words in Logan's mind, more like impressions. Hopefully the feral mutant would figure it out. It would really be nice to have Jean around.
Paul busted through the office door and into the foyer where'd left some of the soldiers unconscious. They were still there, but there weren't alone. Their fellow combatants were tending to them. They all seemed surprised when Paul shattered the office door.
A shockwave of telekinetic energy sent every soldier slamming to the ground, as well as destroying all glass the that was in the large room. Vases shattered and pictures frame cracked. Paul wasted no time moving passed the fallen and making to the elevator shaft.
With no time to wait for the elevator, Paul ripped open the door and sent Xavier through first. Jumping in, Paul took them down to the basement. He hope Scott and Peter had made it down there already. He also hoped that they all made it through the rest of the night in one piece.