Institutionalized

INSTITUTIONALIZED CHAPTER THIRTY NINE (NC-17)
Disclaimers Apply

A/N Goddess Foxfeather, Queen of Mad Plotbunnies and BUSIEST WOMAN ALIVE (tm), I found scraps of plaid under the couch...I think they're trying to make their kil kilts again... Or Joris ate a Scotsman. I'm hoping it's the former rather than the latter. InterNutter, TC and Maxwell Pink are sparkled and deserve loads and loads of muse-kibble for archiving! :) Readers/Reviewers: You know how disturbing it is to hear Killer Kitties (tm) and their Killer Minions (tm), armadillos and ducks singing that flying devil monkey tune from The Wizard of Oz? Very. And I dance naked for joy in the streets because you read and review my fic. *vbg *




Emma sighed, already bored. It had taken very little time, all things considered, to get to Bayville and even less time to get to the Institute. With only a modicum of effort, she evaded the security protocols in place (not quite up to par since the incident of two days previous) and began an almost leisurely stroll towards the mansion, imposing in it's stature and somewhat in disarray, judging from the sprawl of construction equipment and supplies littering the lawn around it. She could not tell if it was to fix the damage she and Magneto had caused or if it to ato add on to the existing house. Either way, she reasoned, it would be unnecessary before long. The mansion itself was dark, not a light flickering in the dark evening. Emma very nearly smiled at how easy it was going to be until a flash to her left caught her eye. The light at the end of the pier had come on and what appeared to be a child was standing on the long wooden outcropping, a woman beside her. Closing her eyes, Emma reached out tentatively and found...nothing. _Strange...who can block me besides Charles and Eric? This is most unusual. _ She did not care that she could be seen as she made a beeline for the pier, her white clad form cutting through the ankle-high grass and the wrapping darkness. A thought, clear as day and in a tentative voice, burst through her brain as she neared the pier and it's clarity nearly made her gasp and giggle for the sheer blatant nature of it all.
_We're all alone here...no one could help us if there was another attack... _
Emma bit her lip to keep from laughing and sending the message back that the girl (for that is who she surmised it to be, sending out such a worried idea) that she was indeed correct and it was all going to be over soon. The woman with the girl turned and headed back into the boathouse and the girl sat on the pier, dangling her feet in the water. Emma moved closer, quietly in grasgrass as she began to be inundated by the girl's thoughts, mostly in German, she found, and mostly of nervous tension and fear, wondering about her brother and another girl, making plans for what she would do when she saw them next. Even a few thoughts made their way through about a dog and brain surgery. Emma was loving it, the simplicity of the approach, the ease of it all. _They're not even mutants! My God, it's like leaving the sheep with the lion! _
Erika tried to keep the steady stream of nonsense thoughts going as Emma moved closer. The only thing keeping her from screaming and throwing herself into the lake in panic was a calming voice in her head, telling her she was doing well and doing the right thing, that no one would let her get hurt if they could help it. She wanted to believe this inner voice as she splashed her feet in the water, the evening air almost too cool on her surgery-tender scalp, the stitches itching maniacally as she sat there. She thought of Kitty as edge of Es shs shadow crept into her line of vision and thought of how her brother's girlfriend had showed her a way to cover the bald spot left after the surgery and even let Baby stay in the boathouse with them until they had to leave in a few weeks. She had gaps in her memory since the accident and the surgery, but she knew Kitty was important to Kurt and therefore important to the entire family. _I hope this goes well...I'd really like to see Kitty again, too... _
"Hello, little girl," Emma purred, standing directly behind Erika and forcing her to look up at her by virtue of their positions.
"Hello, big lady," she said in a purposefully childish lisp as if she were simple.
"What are you doing here all alone?" Emma held out a hand as if to pull Erika to her feet but she never had the chance.
"Trapping you!" Astrid cried, swinging a large clay pot down on the back of Emma's head and sending her sprawling forward. Erika yelped and dodged to one side just as the woman fell, narrowly missing getting hit by her falling body. Johannes swept forward to pick up his shaking daughter, squeezing her as tight as he dared. Astrid, panting slightly, turned to her husband and said, "Is she okay?"
"Ja, fine..." He looked askance at Erika, who nodded, then handed her off to Astrid. Scooping Emma up easily, Johannes sighed. "I hope Professor Xavier is right and he can get information from her."
Erika nodded fervently. "He can! I know he can...he told me." She tapped her head and smiled somewhat wanly. "Can I go to bed now? I don't feel so well..."
Cecilia emerged from the shadows of the boathouse to take Erika back upstairs. "She'll be fine," she said to Astrid. "She's still a little off kilter from the injury and surgery. I'll sit with her while you and your husband go see the Professor if you like."
"Nein, I'll stay," Astrid said, admittedly torn. On one hand, she wanted to see what the Professor could pull from Emma Frost and hopefully find out where Kurt was, but on the other, she was pulled to stay with Erika and care for her.
Erika shook her head. "I can make it there if someone carries me...I want to know what's happened to Kurt and Kitty."
In Johannes's arms, Emma moaned. With a resigned sigh, Cecilia reached over and, after a moment of feeling the back of the other woman's neck, she pinched hard and Emma fell more deeply into unconsciousness again. "Let's go then," the doctor said, "before she wakes up. There's no clay pots between there and here."

Kitty could hardly believe their luck. Though they were still undoubtedly being followed, they had managed to get off the main road and down a little-used track through thick woods, obviously once a logging road judging by the deep ruts. Jono was grimly silent but disapproval and nervousness poured off him in waves, though Kitty could not tell just who the disapproval was directed at. Roberto was shouting directions over the sound of the shocks trying to give and the Jeep being battered mingled with Kitty's occasional yelp or cry of surprise. The headlights barely penetrated the darkness, mostly because they were on the lowest setting possible in order to prevent being noticed while still having visibility, so the sudden emergence of the wrought iron and barbed wire fence before them was a startlement. Kitty scrambled to press the brake but accidentally hit the accelerator. When she would look back on it later, she would say that she did not quite realize what was happening until it had already occurred. There was a rushing silence and then the sound of metal against metal, a tire bursting, Roberto calling out to God to not let them die as the Jeep flipped over and then...nothing. After a long moment, the first thing Kitty said was "Lance is gonna kill us...he loved this Jeep."
_*Is everyone okay? _ *
"Si..." Roberto gulped. "I think...is anyone else upside down?"
"We all are," Kitty sighed. "Just a sec..." She carefully reached out and grabbed a mangled bit of the Jeep nearest her and phased through the seatbelt holding her in place, swinging so that she landed on her feet next to the heap before coming out of phase. "Okay, who's first?"
_*Get Roberto...I can get out on my own. _ * Sure enough, as Kitty helped Roberto out of the Jeep with minimal banging and scraping, Jono freed himself from the back seat and began surveying the area as the other two took stock of injuries.
"I guess this is it," Kitty said. "Can you see lights or sirens?"
_*No, but that doesn't mean we're entirely safe... _ * Jono motioned towards the fence. _*We need to go through there... _ *
"I can phase us through..."
_*No time...someone's got security... _ * True enough, there seemed to be several metallic projectiles hurtling through the night towards them. Jono pulled on the cloth covering his chest and a sudden, horrible glow filled the dark. Kitty cried out in pain as her eyes protested the shift in illumination and Roberto cursed, though Jono never felt more useful in his life. The projectiles were molten, destroyed lumps when Jono covered up a moment later. _*So that's what that's good for, _ * he said as if to himself but with a tinge of black humor.
Kitty, shaken, said, "Let's go then...we don't know where they are in here but they know just where we are..."

Logan and Wanda eyed the fence with amusement. "This is it?" he asked her.
"Magneto is cocky, but not stupid," she said. "He's got security like you wouldn't believe."
"That crash didn't sound too healthy..."
"You get used to things like that around here...when we were kids, Pietro and I learned to ignore metal crashing around...." Wanda sighed and craned her neck. "You want to or shall I?"
"Oh, after you..." Logan was coming to not necessarily like Wanda but appreciate her insanity. She was angry, and that he could understand, and she was bitter, another thing he could sympathize with. And, he smiled to himself, she hated Magneto almost as much as he did. That he could really get behind.
Wanda surveyed the fence and smiled slightly. Wrapping her hands around the wrought iron, she closed her eyes and concentrated, the newest of her powers still something she had to focus on intently, and within moments, the iron bars were gone, merely black powder staining her hands and clothes. "Ugh...and I just got this outfit. Damn." She dusted her pants ineffectually and sighed. "Well, there's an entrance across the compound that leads directly to the sublevels. I say we go that way. Element of surprise and all."
Logan shook his head. "Storm's expectin' us 'round front. We go that way and surprise the Hell out of the second floor."
W sno snorted. "Look, we go into the house itself, Magneto's gonna..."
"Listen, kid, I know a thing or two about Magneto and his tactics and I know a sight more than you about recon...We're doing it my way!"
Wanda opened her mouth to say something but snapped it closed as three shapes manifested from the shadows nearest the house. "Looks like the front's covered."
"Half Pint!" Logan hissed, not quite willing to yell. "What the fuck..."
Wanda grinned widely. "It's just a regular party up in here, isn't it? Storm'll get 'em around front...you and I can come up from behind. Come on!"
Logan wavered uncharacteristically but went with Wanda, watching Kitty for as long as he could. "If she gets herself killed, I'm kicking her ass myself!"
Wanda snorted. "I'm sure..." They made it halfway across the lawn before Wanda noticed that Logan was no longer following her. "Come on!" She turned and froze at the sight before her. Logan, obviously straining to move, and Magneto behind him. "You son of a bitch...Where's Tabby?"
"Tabby...is no longer my problem." Magneto forced Logan to his knees and moved closer, Tarot emerging from seemingly nowhere as he did so. "You, however, seem to be quite a large one. I had hoped that I could one day have both of my children under the same roof but sadly, not under these circumstances..." A small nod of his head and Tarot sprang forward, brandishing a card.
Wanda jerked back in surprise, part of her wondering what the Hell she was planning to do with a card and preparing to bind Magneto's powers, but a sudden attack from behind made her cry out and fall to her face on the wet grass. Tarot had brought forward the Page of Swords, swinging a massive blade and striking out at Wanda even as she rolled out of his way. "Logan!" the mutant known as Scarlet Witch cried out.
"I know," he growled, ready.
Wanda waited until the split second before the sword would come crashing down on her head and sent her power flowing from her mind and out into the night around her. The Page wavered and vanished and there was a growling shout, then the sick sound of splitting flesh that sounded like a melon bursting. Wanda rolled to her knees and looked at what had happened. Tarot was horrified, her face pale as Logan pinned her to the ground with his knee to her chest. Magneto lay on the ground, bleeding from a massive gash across his stomach. "I think," Wanda said quietly, "we win this round."