Institutionalized

INSTITUTIONALIZED CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN (NC-17)
Disclaimers Apply

A/N Goddess Foxfeather, Queen of Mad Plotbunnies and BUSIEST WOMAN ALIVE (tm), the kilts are too distracting...*faints * InterNutter (viva la FTP!), TC and Maxwell Pink are sparkley and groovy for archiving. :) Readers/Reviewers: The armadillos are running amuck! I blame ProPhile-he introduced me to them! They're everywhere...I think I saw a Killer Kitty (tm) vanish into the mass of shells... And a moment of silence for Buffy the Vampire Slayer...*sniffle* Series finale on this side of the world. *sniffles again * I MISS SPIKE!



"Is he supposed to be that shade of purple?"
"He is so long as I apply pressure to his windpipe..."
"Logan, put the boy down!" Storm's strident tones made all in the room jump guiltily, even those that were not currently strangling Roberto, which was everyone other than Logan.
Somewhat slower than said boy would have liked, Logan lowered him to the ground and released his hold on his neck. "I was just..."
"Committing a felony," Storm supplied. "What's the reason for this spasm of violence?"
Roberto burst into a staccato explanation: "Me and Sam took Logan's bike out for a ride and I didn't think we'd get caught but we did and I'm really really sorry and I didn't wreck it or nothin'!"
Logan growled softly and said, "You stole it. Takin' without askin' is stealin' and I don't like stealin', especially when it's my stuff!"
Roberto's face slowly returning to normal, he said, "I know and I'm really sorry! I'll take whatever punishment you dish out!"
"Really?" Logan said, smiling, really smiling.
Storm jumped in. "That's not the best idea, Roberto. Logan, keep it appropriate. Appropriate enough for Charles to condone..."
Logan actually wilted a little at that. Aware of all the eyes in kitchen on him, he said, "Fine. Clean the garage top to bottom and then, meet me in the Danger Room for a double session. Bring Sam with ya."
"Duuuuuuuuuuuuuude," Bobby breathed when Logan left. "You are so lucky!"
Jamie nodded furiously. "I thought he was gonna kill ya!"
Storm held up her hand for silence. "Roberto, would you care to tell me the real reason behind taking Logan's motorcycle? I doubt it was just for a joy ride..."
"No, really, ma'am, it was!"
"Then why is Sam hungover? And just how did you get him back, drunk as he was?"
"How did you...I didn't! We drank after we got back," he said staunchly.
"Nice try, man," Jamie said softly, as if Storm could not hear him. "No alcohol where we can get to it here."
"And just how would you know, Mister Madrox?"
"Er...gotta go now! C'mon, Bobby. I think I hear St John calling you!" Jamie grabbed his friend's arm and dragged him from the kitchen as Storm's eyes took on a white glow.
Roberto swallowed hard as she stared at him. His neck hurt where Logan had picked him up and held him, but he fought the urge to rub it under her scrutiny. "It was a joyride, as you say."
"Roberto, I know you're lying to me. I know you went very far and I know you were sneaking around with Roulette and Empath the other night. I know you're up to something...If you tell me and be honest about it, you are less likely to be in serious trouble later."1
He looked away, unable to meet her gaze. "I can't say," he finally murmured. "I'm not doing anything bad." Anymore.
"Hmmm...I'd like for you to bring Roulette and Empath by rooms later. Before the party, say around five..."
"Er...why?"
"I would likehavehave a word with all of you before the Professor does. Trust me...my mind games are less invasive than his."
Roberto took this as his cue to leave. A hasty "Si, Storm!" and he turned on his heel, walking quickly in the direction he knew Roulette to be. Sure enough, he found her in the gazebo with a besotted Piotr. "Roulette, I need to see you!" Piotr glared and for a moment, Roberto was taken aback but a flicker of movement revealed Empath just on the other side of the lattice work of the gazebo, sitting on the ground from the looks of things. "All that mind meld crap can't be good for anyone..."
Roulette glared and got off Piotr's lap, patting him on the head as if rewarding a good dog and motioning for Roberto to move. When they were several feet away, she hissed, "I've got him where we need him!"
"Maybe where you need him..." Roberto ignored her glare and expletive and continued, "You're just playing now. You have recruits for Emma, you got her the disks and she can start her whatever it is now...we should go!" He felt dirty inside and out. He was betraying someone, but he could not be sure just who righen. en. He thought of Mystique, of what he told her about Emma and the Hellions, and the question of just why he had done it flitted across his mind before he realized that Roulette was talking to him."
"...and Tarot still isn't back yet. I can't fucking believe that Emma sent her to hurry us up!"
"Tarot's not back? She left hours ago..." Roberto felt a twinge of worry. "Do you think Warpath..."
"No. He's not part of this..." Roulette glanced back at Piotr, who was glaring at Roberto. "Look, we'll go late tonight, after the party, okay? We just need to make sure we can fit 'em all in your car."
Roberto nodded, not sure just how things were going to play out. "Sure thing. Tonight..."


"Fucking Hell..."
"Katzchen!" Kurt started to chide, but quickly saw where she was looking. "Fucking Hell..."
Amara was emerging from Party-a-Rama, arms laden with bags and a receipt clenched between her teeth, heading straight for Lance and Tarot. Kitty squeaked in preliminary panic. "Oh, shit...this isn't good!"
"Where's Todd and Rogue?" Kurt said, already moving and dragging Kitty with him.
"I told him to distract her...I don't want to even think about it! Hi, Amara!" Kitty switched from panic-mode to chipper in an instant, nearly making Kurt's head spin. "Whatcha doin'?"
Amara glared and spit the receipt into one of the bags. "Jubilee decided the streamers weren't streamer-y enough and the balloons weren't ballooning properly. I was sent on a mission."
Kurt smiled wanly, trying to put himself between Amara the sight across the courtyard. "Well, we came over here to grab a burger but Rogue and Todd are still ovt tht the mall part of the complex...um, want a pop?"
Amara raised a brow. "Pardon?"
Kitty smiled anxiously. "Soda...you know, Coke, Sprite, Dr Pepper, Fanta...pop!"
"Are you high? I have to go..." She stepped to Kurt's right only to have him shift to block her progress. She sighed and tried to go the other direction only to have Kitty step in front of her. "What the Hell are you two doing?"
"Nothing!" Kitty said a little too quickly.
Amara glared hard and dropped her bags. Without much other warning, she let one finger flame up and poked at Kitty with it, making the girl yelp and phase at once, dodging out of the way on instinct. "Next time move!" she growled, bending to scoop up the bags but pausing midway down. "Oh, no, he didn't!" She was half way across the courtyard before Kurt could move.
Though the small shopping center a block from the mall itself was mostly empty that time of day, he did not chance porting, on the off chance someone was actually paying attention. Kitty beat him to Amara, though, phasing through a chair in her way and not caring who saw. Kurt, more circumspect, ended up tripping over his own feet and tackling them both inadvertently, landing them all in a heap Amara was on her feet in a flash, her fist connecting with Tarot's chin with the sound of knuckles cracking. Tarot reeled, unprepared for the blow and fell out of her chair. Lance cried out in surprise and Kitty yelping as his foot made contact with her shoulder as he leapt to his feet. "Amara!" he shouted, drawing the attention of the few people in the courtyard area.
Tarot pushed herself to her knees and made as if to lunge at Amara, the only thing stopping her being a pair of security guards coming out of seemingly nowhere (though, Kurt knew because he saw, they had emerged from Cinnabun and dropped their snack on the way to the burgeoning fight) to stop the girls. Tarot did a convincing job of acting affronted as Amara seethed. Kurt said quickly and as innocently as possible, "It was all a misunderstanding, sirs...we'll leave!"
"That's right!" the taller of the two guards said sternly, as if it were his own idea. "And if I see you here again..."
"You'll revoke our sticky bun privileges?" Amara asked, looking long and hard at the smear of white frosting on her sleeve from the guard's fingers.
Lance seemed dazed as he took Amara's hand and led her away, Kurt, Kitty and Tarot following. Once in the parking lot, Amara jerked away from Lance and made a beeline for the car she had driven herself up in. "Lance, what the Hell are you thinking?" Kitty snapped, shoving against his chest with the flat of her palms. "You couldn't wait three days?"
"I don't...I don't know what was going on!" he said, sounding distant and looking stricken. "I just couldn't think about anyone other than...her." He gave Tarot a look worthy of every B-movie victim in the history of Hollywood and shook his head. "I have to go...God, I think I'm going to be sick..."
"Not exactly what a girl wants to hear," Tarot purred but was only met with a rude gesture as Lance headed towards the car the large group had come in.
Kurt held onto Kitty's elbow to keep her from lunging at Tarot. "I think you need to leave." Kitty resisted for a moment but relaxed against him when he said, "We need to go get Tabby..."
Tarot pouted, but it was obviously false. "Just having some fun..." Kurt growled something possibly vile to her in German and pulled Kitty away, heading back towards the mall itself. Tarot pulled the Lover card from beneath her blouse where it had been concealed, the entwined couple glowing faintly under the influence of her powers. She had wanted to test her emerging abilities before what she knew to be the end of the Hellions' mission and it had worked admirably. She was pleased that she had been able to create a new rift in the dynamics of the Institute, but Tarot also knew that what had just transpired was nothing to Emma, small change in the scheme of things. She fished the cell phone from her pocket and punched in the Massachusetts- based number. "Pietro," she said after a moment, "we'll be ready tomorrow night. I'll send the others back to Emma tonight and we can regroup for the final push."

"Let it ring," Storm said from somewhere in the vicinity of Logan's belt buckle. He made a purring sound in his chest and settled back against the pillows as she worked his belt and jeans open, freeing his already rock-hard erection. The shrill sound continued even as she grasped his warm length in her hand and stroked him, making him groan and arch into her touch. He gasped when her lips brushed across the most sensitive part of him, the bead of moisture there spreading as she darted her tongue out to taste him.
"Darlin', I don't think they're going to stop..." he said raggedly as she took the first few inches of his arousal into her mouth, suckling just hard enough to make him clench the sheets beneath him with grasping fingers.
"Neither will I, so long as you don't answer the phone," she said, breaking contact with him just long enough to speak before taking him into her warm willingness again. Logan groaned loudly as she took him deeply, her tongue and teeth and lips combining to make him arch off the bed as she drew on him, her fingers fondling him in wicked fashion everywhere she could reach. The ringing stopped and they both froze, the absence of the sound almost tangible. Just as Logan was starting to relax again, though, the ringing recommenced. "Damn it," Storm groused, sitting up and smoothing her hair back. "Answer it!"
Logan fought the urge to spear the device as he answered. "This had better be fucking great news or someone'd better be dead..." There was a longish pause and then, "Shhh, Half-Pint. Calm down! I'll be there in ten minutes!"
"What is it?" Storm asked, both Logan's tone and the knowledge that it was Kitty on the other end making her nearly forget her ire over being interrupted.
"Cecilia Reyes' office's been trashed and Tabby's gone...Cecilia is alive but out of it...we gotta go."




1 That's never true, is it?