Playing with Fire

Sorry, accidentally posted the wrong chapter here first time around. This is the right chapter, the other one will show up later.

Still don't own anything you see here except the loser in this chapter. Don't really care for him much though, will trade for Kurt if Marvel or Kids WB or anyone who actually has any right to him is interested.

*word* still started as bold
_word_ still started as italic


HIDE AND SEEK


Sergeant Eli Masters crouched uncomfortably in the branches of a large oak tree. He had his binoculars up and was systematically scanning a two hundred yard section of the wall surrounding the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters and the grounds beyond. Just as he'd been doing six hours a night, six out of every seven nights for the past two and a half months. Just as almost two dozen others were doing at different spots along the entire perimeter of this _Institute_ around the clock, seven days a week. Just as they would all continue to do until they figured out how the *hell* to get at the damn fuzzy blue teleporter that the brass wanted so bad they were willing to pour these kind of man-hours into getting their hands on him.

Masters refocused his binocs on the forest behind the wall again. His alternate and three others had reported seeing the target in the woods last night, running like all the hordes of hell were on his hells, even teleporting intermittently. They'd pulled in back-up and been prepared to move on a moment's notice if an opportunity presented itself. Unfortunately it'd never come close enough to the perimeter for them to risk a capture attempt.

They'd tried to get past the place's automated defenses a few times in the first weeks - always under cover of anti-mutant protesters attempting vandalism- but had never succeeded in getting far enough onto the grounds to matter. They had learned enough from the experience to know exactly how far they could risk trying to penetrate for a capture and how long they'd have to accomplish it, but so far their quarry had never come within their safe range under acceptable circumstances.

Masters was getting the impression from the lieutentant that the brass were getting impatient waiting for their new toy. Of course, they'd been impatient ever since the botched capture attempt in Germany almost nine months ago. Masters figured they were lucky to be getting a second shot at the little shit at all, considering how completely it'd disappeared after Winzeldorf, but the brass didn't give a flying fuck what he thought.

If it hadn't been for that news coverage exposing the mutants at this 'Institute' they probably *never* would have found the little bugger, and God knows they hadn't managed to find any other frikkin teleporters. Telepaths were a dime a dozen as were energy converters of one kind or another, though most weren't powerful enough to be worth bothering with. But in all the mutants they'd checked out and/or captured over the years, the Organization had never found another teleporter. They were even rarer than the healers, 'cause Masters knew of at least three of those. The brass wanted the little girl who could walk through walls too, if they could get her without too much trouble. But they wanted the freak of nature more - her ability was useful, but its power was fan-fucking-tastic for their purposes.

Masters sighed as he began to run his binoculars over the perimeter again. If they just wanted her, or maybe that kid with the eye beams, or even the red-headed teek, they could've grabbed one or all of them and been done with this shit ages ago. But no, they wanted the only one who never seemed to leave the grounds - not that you could fucking blame it, the way it looked - and they couldn't risk alerting the Wolverine - he shivered at even the thought of the name - or the hi level teep who ran the place, by snatching any of the others. They had orders to take as many as they could when the opportunity arose, but not unless the blue freak was one of them and that meant surveillance twenty-four bloody hours day, seven bloody days a week for as long as it bloody well took.

Masters wished, not for the first time, that they'd set up here as soon as they found out about the place. But at the time it had been blown all to hell and all the mutie freaks who'd lived here were running for their lives with the whole U.S. military on their asses. No one had really thought they'd risk coming back here. Sometimes twenty/twenty hindsight just plain pissed him off.

By the time they'd found out different it had been too late. The house had still been a crater, but they hadn't wasted any time in reconstituting the defense system - and it was one hell of a defense system. So now Eli Masters and a couple dozen of his close personal friends spent way too much time sitting on their asses, trying to be inconspicuous and hoping for a shot at the fuzzy blue freaking piece of shit who'd been, effectively, making many of their lives hell for over a year now. Ever since the brass had found out about it from that little circus slut they'd picked up in South America.

Personally, Masters couldn't wait 'til they got a restraint collar slapped around its neck and started teaching it some manners. In fact, he sincerely hoped that he'd get a chance to help. Until then, he entertained himself with fantasies of just how much fun it was going to be to break the little shit to harness and teach it who was boss. He hoped it wouldn't be too easy.