Institutionalized

INSTITUTIONALIZED CHAPTER FORTY ONE (NC-17)
Disclaimers Apply

A/N Goddess Foxfeather, Queen of Mad Plotbunnies and BUSIEST WOMAN ALIVE (tm), I think I've tatted myself cross-eyed... InterNutter, TC and Maxwell Pink make me all giggly b/c they archive. :) Readers/Reviewers: It's official...the critters are insane. They've formed a road company for Hair and are in rehearsals. Of course, they're fighting the whole time and there's feathers and fur everywhere but...well, the love beads bother me a bit.

Anja and Katja shifted nervously in the large study. They were both sitting very close together on the divan, despite the preponderance of chairs in the room. They knew instinctively that they were being watched though neither could quite pinpoint how or by whom. There was a tray of tea cooling on the low table before them but neither was willing to touch it. There was also an open door leading to a small bed room with twin beds, laid with fresh linen and with a nightrail laid across the foot of one of each bed, but neither would lay down and rest despite being painfully tired. They had been awake for nearly forty eight hours, each snatching brief naps that did more harm than good in terms of relieving their stress and tiredness. Anja finally said, "Katja, I can't do this anymore...I need to lay down."
Katja inhaled slowly, trying not to give in to sleep. Her sister's use of English had been deliberate, meant to let whoever was watching them know what she was doing. Carefully, Katja responded, "Go ahead. I'll be here..." She hoped her sister could read between the lines-she would not sleep so long as Anja did, keeping watch as it were against whoever had them.
Anja shook her head. "Nein...come with me. We need rest." She said it so firmly that Katja had to wonder if she had something up her sleeve. She rose a bit wobbly and followed her sister slowly into the small bedroom, seemingly set up just for them. Hesitantly, Anja undressed and pulled one of the nightrails over her head, letting the old fashioned gown fall in thick folds of cotton around her. She nodded to Katja who followed suite, folding her clothes neatly and placing them on the narrow chair between the two beds. "Sleep well, Katja," Anja said softly.
"Anja...what are you doing?" she hissed back, climbing into bed and unwillingly feeling her body beg for the comfort the cool sheets and soft mattress offered. The scent of lavender wafted up from the bedding and Katja suppressed a sigh.
In low, fierce tones, Anja said, "Whoever is watching us won't come out until we're asleep...I'm sure of it. Lay down and pretend!"
"If I lay down, I'm really going to sleep!"
"Well, don't!" Anja snapped, pulling the sheets up to her chin. However, her breathing quickly became slow and deep, belying her somnolent condition to Katja's ears.
_Do as I say not as I do _, she thought snidely. Despite her overwhelming desire to sleep, her heart was racing too quickly to allow such a thing. She was scared, she admitted freely. They had been in this one suite of rooms for two days, by her reckoning, and she did not know where they were other than that. The last thing she knew before arriving there was that there seemed to be an attack on the Institute. It was so dark, she thought, that she was lucky to have been able to keep up with Anja while the chaos reigned. When the metaphorical and actual dust settled, everyone she knew other than her sister was gone and they were bound and blindfolded in a car or van, speeding away from the one place in the country they knew. They had been led to this room, up a series of stairs and down many hallways, by someone with very cold hands that felt almost scaly to her touch, and the blindfolds removed in darkness. Since then, they had been left alone except for the tray of tea that had appeared while they were investigating the bedroom. Katja clutched at the edge of the sheets convulsively, her body begging for sleep but her mind whirling much to fast to let it come over her. She did not know how long she lay there, listening to Anja's even breathing and marveling at how her sister could sleep so deeply, worrying about Kurt and Kitty and her parents and Erika, begging God to let her wake up and find it was a nightmare...Katja only knew it must have been close to dawn when she heard light footsteps enter the room. She hitched a breath and closed her eyes, forcing her breathing to become slower. All thoughts of sleep flew from her mind as she felt someone stand over her, peering at her. The person moved to Anja's side, she sensed, and then moved to stand between the beds. She nearly fainted from sheer happiness and shock when a familiar, newly beloved voice said, "Katja, I know you're awake...come on, it's me..."
"Kitty?" she asked cautiously, excitedly.
"Yeah, it's me...are you okay?"
"Ja, I think so...I'm so tired, though!" Katja nearly sobbed with relief. "Where is everyone? How did you get here?"
"I followed you guys in the Jeep...They didn't catch me in the raid on the Institute. I was able to get in and I found you two up here... I don't know where everyone else is."
Anja stirred and sat up. "What's going on?"
"Kitty!" Katja said with a tremor, not willing to believe their luck. "She followed us up here!"
Anja leapt from the bed and flung herself at the slight form between the two beds, sending them both sprawling onto Katja. "Thank God! Where is Kurt? Have you seen him?"
"I'm sure he's fine...I haven't seen him, though," she said, her voice tinged with obvious worry. "We need to get out of here, fast...we don't have time. All Hell is going to break loose soon."
"What do you mean?" Anja asked, pulling away.
"Don't ask...just come on!" The pony tailed shadow pulled Katja to her feet and took Anja's hand. "I'll get you out of here...can either of you drive by any chance?"
Katja, fighting a yawn, said, "A little...not enough to do well, though."
Anja seconded that. "We're too young..."
"Damn. Okay, I'll take you to where some help is and then I have to come back here and...take care of something. Let's go." She effectively cut off any further questioning and pulled the two girls behind her until they moved of their own accord. The figure masquerading as Kitty set her face in grim lines as she wound her way through the mansion, well aware of the encroaching danger for the two girls and finding herself wishing that she had less of a conscience.

"I'm an idiot."
There was a collective pause and finally Jubilee said, "Since you can't hit me...I could've told ya that a year ago!"
Amara growled at her, actually growled, before saying, "I don't know why I didn't do this _hours _ ago..."
"Do what?" Beast asked, not able to look up from his restraints. Within moments, the smell of melting plastic and wires filled the air, acrid smoke rising to drift across the ceiling.
"Qu'est-ce que tu fait, Amara?" Remy asked, more interested than worried.
"Getting out of here," she said, sounding grimly pleased. Her body ached from her earlier shock treatment but she pushed it to react, to take on the properties of the magma for which she was so called. The connections and restraints melted under the intense heat she was throwing off, the bed beneath her smoldering as she finally freed herself. Returning to a normal form, Amara stood and smiled in self satisfaction. "We are pleased."
"We'd be more pleased if you'd get the rest of us out," Lance said, though not as harshly as he could have.
Amara glared but moved to the nearest bed-Remy's-and assessed the restraints. After a long few minutes, she put her hands on the spot where the connections met the bed and began to heat her skin, orange light rippling just below the surface in a promise of her full ability. When Remy was loose, she moved on to the next as he headed to Beast's bedside. "Now don' move, d'accord?" the Cajun said and then there was a loud cracking and popping noise.
"Oh, my," Beast said.
Remy's smile was evident in his voice. "Sometime dis power come in handy, non?"
Working together, Remy and Amara freed everyone from the restraints in record time. "Now what?" Paige asked shakily, feeling unsure of anything at that point.
"Now we get the Hell out of here," Lance snapped. He was itching to grab Amara and crush her to his chest and kiss her, thanking a God he wasn't sure he believed in that she was alright, but forced himself to remain aloof. Remy and Jubilee almost succeeding in refraining, settling for holding hands tightly. Lance glanced at his girlfriend and nearly sighed aloud. She looked so tired, he thought, ignoring the fact that they _all _ looked and felt tired. He finally reached out and brushed his fingers across the back of her neck as she stood beside him. She jumped slightly but then, much to his relieved happiness, leaned against him wearily. "How do we get out of here?"
Beast reached for the glasses the die did not have on and sighed when he realized they were gone. "Well, through the door would be my assumption. Piotr, do you think..."
The Russian teenager shook his head. "I...I can't..." He hated to admit weakness but he felt as if his body was not his own, drained of blood by Mystique and sorely used by Magneto.
Remy raised a hand, "Mebbe I kin get de door open, eh?"
"It'll draw too much attention," Paige said.
"At this point," Beast said don don't care... Remy, if you would..."
Finding the seam in the wall where the door blended into the sheer chrome coloring, Remy smirked. "Stand back, mes amis..." He traced his fingers down the wall and moved back several paces. "One for de money, two for de show..."
"Gumbo," Jubilee said in exasperation.
"You no fun, cherie!" He snapped his fingers and a moment later, the twisted metal of the doorway was fairly flooded with fleeing mutants.1
Beast took the lead, knuckling ahead of the younger ones, wending a path from what seemed to be at least three levels below the ground floor of the house towards what he hoped was the exit. After nearly half an hour, they emerged into a wide hall, not quite a foyer but definitely on ground level, judging by the giant glass wall revealing a nightscape giving way to dawn. Rain pelted the glass and thunder rumbled long and loud. Several doors led off the room and he looked around consideringly before shrugging. "I would like to take this opportunity to remind you all that the Xavier Institute frowns on vandalism in all its forms and will take swift and decisive action on any member of said institute guilty of willful destruction of property. That said..." He crouched and sprung forward, hurtling through the plate glass window and tumbling out onto the ground, somersaulting to his feet.
"Dude," Jubilee said, following him out, "you are so fucking cool sometimes."
"Language!" a voice snapped from the shadows.
"Storm!" Amara cried, not ashamed of her relief. The woman in question emerged from the darkness, Kitty's ear clutched between thumb and forefinger, said girl walking on her tip toes to keep the pain at a minimum, Roberto mimicking the action on Storm's other side. Jono brought up the rear.
_*I've been punished enough, _ * he said in answer to Remy's raised brow.
"I caught them trying to sneak in," Storm said to Beast. "While I cannot fault them for heroism..."
Beast nodded. "We'll talk about the failure to follow directions later. Right now, we need to get them out of here."
Storm released her hold on the teenagers and Kitty rubber ear ear furiously. "See if I commit international crimes for you guys again," she said huffily.
"What?" the adults asked.
"NevermindnothingI'mgoingoverherenow..." She darted behind Lance and stayed there.
1 The sheer amount of property damage in this fic is astounding...