Day Three: Allegiances

[Rogue 4]

It was a sunny day in California as Jean Grey woke up, taking a shower and preparing herself before heading downstairs to the kitchen. There she searched through the cabinets until she found her secret love...cinnamon pop tarts. She pulled them from the aluminum wrapping, placing them in the toaster and setting the box back where she'd found it: the top shelf behind the canned foods. With a yawn she turned to the fridge, opening it to find the orange juice.

She could hear the mansion's occupants already up and scurrying around noisily. It didn't bother her though. She was used to the hustle and bustle of more students than this running about at the Bayville Xavier's Institute up in Westchester New York, and it was actually a welcome change to the quiet they'd had all summer.

She was excited. Their replica of Cerebro had finally been finished and she was set on training on it today.

(Sorry, I know it's not the best of posts, but it's 3:22 in the morning and I'm not all here. Now all of you harassing me on MSN *cough* Drake, Chickenman *cough* can shove it. HA)

[Chickenman 9]

Silas Breckenridge swung through his loft's fire escape window. Technically it wasn't his loft. Technically it wasn't anyone's loft. But it had the perfectly good mattress he had saved from the trash, and where there's a mattress, there's home. He dropped his backpack to the floor and pulled a shoplifted apple from his pocket. Hungrily he tore into the fruit.

Cops. Cops in the hallway. Not just regular cops. SWAT. Eight of them. About to burst into the attic. RUN!

The apple dropped from Silas' grasp, bounced, and rolled toward the attic's door. Silas was out the window by the time it hit the floor. He prepared to climb down the fire escape.

SWAT Van outside. Backup squad at the ready. Take the roof.

Silas didn't give it a second thought. He climbed the stairs just as the SWAT team moved in, lobbing a flashbang grenade ahead of them. Silas felt the concussive blast of the grenade and lost his balance, nearly tumbling over the railing as he did so.

Hurry!

Silas reached the top of the building. He heard the sound of a SWAT officer's boots on the metal grating below.

GO!

Silas pulled his sweatshirt's hood up, and made a running leap for the next building.

[Drake 53]

Peter yawned as he poured himself a bowl of cereal. The bowl was one used for serving...it was almost twice as large as a regular bowl. He piled it full of Lucky Charms then topped it up with milk.

To Jean, he said, "First time with Cerebro today, da? Well, first time without the Professor. How do you feel about that?" He loaded up a large soup spoon with cereal and shoved it into his mouth, trying to look thoughtful with a mouth full of food.

***

Hailey got up and managed to slip into the bathroom for a shower before the other students were out of their rooms. She undressed then got into the shower. After a minute or two, she heard a bamf over the running water and peaked her head around the curatin.

"Don't you knock! Get out!" she yelled.

"Oh sorry!" said Kurt, embarassed, before teleporting out.

Hailey rolled her eyes.

Edited July 7, 2008 by Drake

[Vergere 1]

Catalina was in charge of the Cove for the beginning hours of the day while Kelly and Lance were out catching waves before tourists and others came to crowd the beach so bad that there was hardly a place to walk. She liked this time of day, because no one was around, and she could mess around without anyone noticing or making fun of her. Today she had grabbed a broom from when she'd been sweeping all the sand out of the Cove itself, and began to use it like a sword, mimicing an entire scene out of a fantasy she'd watched the night before, and was taking out invisible foes throughout the abandoned building, wasting time until she was needed to wait on someone.. or to do at least something besides basically make sure nothing was stolen. That got boring rather fast.

[Rogue 4]

"A little nervous actually," Jean spoke, retrieving her pop tarts and sitting down at the table. "I mean, it's not like I haven't done it before...but I haven't done it without the professor. I mean, I'm relieved that we have one and that he trusts me to use it, it's just that it's a dangerous piece of equipment and I don't want to hurt anybody."

[Drake 53]

"I think you will do just fine," Peter said between spoonfuls. "But if anything happens, Scott and I will be there. For...moral support."

[Rogue 4]

"Thanks Peter, I appreciate the support." Jean said, taking a bite out of her breakfast and a sip of her orange juice. "First training session today too. Think the students are excited or afraid?"

[Drake 53]

Peter laughed. "Probably about as much as I am at both!" he said. "I am excited to put my experience to use helping the young ones but I am afraid that I won't be as engaging a teacher as Wolverine!" He laughed again.

Kurt appeared in a puff of smoke. His blue fur was disheveled in places from sleep and lack of shower.

"Hailey beat you to it again?" Peter asked.

"Ja..." said Kurt, as he fixed up a bowl of cereal almost equal in size to Peter's. "Though I forgot to knock this time."

[Rogue 4]

"Kurt! How many times do I need to tell you, you can't just be teleporting in on private areas like that."

"What happened?" Scott asked, walking down the stairs groggily and taking a seat next to Kurt.

"Kurt invaded on Hailey's shower time." Jean rolled her eyes.

"That's great...can you pass the milk?" He said, still half asleep.

[Drake 53]

"I really really had to go pee!" said Kurt as he slid Scott the milk jug, which was now under a quarter full.

Peter nodded. "He has a point. She should have showered in the locker rooms downstairs. Showers can wait. Bladders cannot. Which reminds me," he said, looking at Jean. "Someone's shower sent me running to the bathroom downstairs as well."

[Ayingel 24]

Lila finished brushing her hair and put on one of her new outfits. She double checked that everything looked right in the mirror before heading down the stairs. She walked into the kitchen and grabbed some bread and popped it into the toaster. Heading to the fridge, she grabbed some fruit to make a small fruit salad. After buttering her toast and finishing cutting her fruit, she sat at the table. Lila kept mindlessly running her hand over her skirt as she ate.

[Mara 29]

One of Joseph's friends, a lifeguard down at the beach, had gone away for the weekend and so he found himself on the bus with his gear. Joseph didn't mind at all; he had jumped at the chance to lifeguard. It was still early in the school year, plus he wanted to make sure he stayed sharp on his skills. The other guards knew he was on the short list of those available for subbing or trading shifts.

The bus dropped him off about a block from the beach, and he walked the rest of the way, through the sand and up to his guard tower. He settled in to wait, unwrapping his breakfast burrito and pulling a schoolbook out of his backpack.

* * * * *

After all her excitement at the mall earlier in the week, August had spent as much time home as she possibly could, going home right after school on Friday, avoiding Neil, the boy from the mall, who had joined her art class, according to Mr Reynolds.

And even though it was the weekend now, she wasn't planning on it being any different. No one, not even Bridget or her mother could distract her away from her plans. August would stay in bed, work on her drawings and sketches and just relax.

* * * * *

Sean woke up bright and early; Saturday was no reason for him to deviate from his normal schoolday schedule. He whistled to himself, softly and out of tune, as he made his way around his apartment, tidying up and making some breakfast.

[Chickenman 9]

One SWAT member made his way to the roof before the others. He lined up Silas in his iron sights.

"Permission to shoot," he requested into his mouthpiece.

"Permission denied, sergeant. He hasn't attacked us!" his commanding officer answered.

"He's a mutant."

"He's a human being."

"We'll see about that."

"What was that?"

"Nothing. Sir. So we're just going to let him go?" he sighed as Silas disappeared behind another building."

"No sergeant. We're going to find him." he paused. "We'll find him."

[Andy 60]

Chase munched on a piece of toast and responded to Peter's comment; "but then what's the point of having the showers upstairs if you're not supposed to use them in case someone has a bladder emergency?"

[Chickenman 9]

Many blocks later, Silas collapsed on the stairs of another fire escape, exhausted.

A SWAT Team? What the hell? Am I that bad that I need to be brought in by a SWAT Team? What AM I?

[Drake 53]

Peter pointed his spoon at Chase, looking like he might chastise him for not taking his side. Instead he grinned and said, "Brilliant. I shall remove that shower today!"

Hailey walked into the kitchen, damp hair hanging down to her shoulders, leaving wet streaks on her t-shirt. She glared at Kurt then went to fix herself something to eat.

[Andy 60]

Chase frowned, and then sat back in his chair. "That's not exactly what I meant..."

[Vergere 1]

The car humming down at the street, Kelly ran up to the house and knocked on the door. "Natalie! Surf time!" She grinned and glanced back at Lance; both were in wetsuits ready to hit the beach. After a pause of no answer, "Nat!"

[Rogue 4]

After a moment, Natalie's father came to the door. He was dressed in his suit for work, but had a beer in hand, something that wasn't farfetched for the man. He looked down his nose at the two of them, who were situated on one of the lower stairs. "Can I help you?"

[Vergere 1]

Kelly hesitated, then shrugged casually. "I was looking for Natalie. We were supposed to go surfing today."

[Rogue 4]

"Natalie's grounded. She won't be leaving the house today." He said, stepping outside and locking the door. He needed to get in his car and drive to work.

[Vergere 1]

"Oh. Alright. Have a nice day, sir." Kelly shrugged and motioned to Lance they get back in the Jeep. With a glance back at Natalie's dad, Kelly motioned that Lance drive slowly around a few blocks, opposite of the direction that Natalie's dad would be headed. A few minutes later, they were outside the house again, this time checking to make sure her dad was gone.

Lance went up instead and pounded on the door, harder than Kelly had. "Natalie! Get up!"

[Rogue 4]

After a few minutes of pounding, the upstairs window slid open and Natalie looked down at them. "You know Lance, all that pounding doesn't do much if I can't open the door." She threw a thumb back indicating inside her room. "He locked my door from the outside figuring it would keep me in."

She slid her surfboard out the window towards them, hanging out almost all the way to make sure it got to them. "By the way, you guys are bad influences. Just so you know."

[Vergere 1]

"Well, if I threw rocks up at your window, then it'd break and you'd be in more trouble. And of course we're bad influences. We're your friends." Lance grabbed the board as she let go. "Come on, the crowds are just gonna get bigger!"

Kelly hid a smile behind her hand.

[Rogue 4]

"I'm hurrying, I'm hurrying!" Natalie said, throwing her bag down to hit the ground next to the stairs. She climbed into the windowframe. "Kelly! Tell your ogre of a boyfriend to stop rushing me." She teased before jumping the two feet into the tree, and climbing down from there.