Bellwether

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> Bellwether Chapter Six
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> Disclaimers Apply
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> A/N Goddess Foxfeather, Queen of Mad Plotbunnies, BUSIEST WOMAN ALIVE ™, Prophetic Muse, Hamster Witch and Uberbeta… Beauregard hasn’t forgotten Minerva. InterNutter, TC, Maxwell Pink, Dracena and Greywolf are loverly and wondermous for archiving/hosting. J ProPhile: I’m going to blame gnomes for the troubles. Morgan: *test stalk * Readers/Reviewers: Thank you VERY much for reading and reviewing as you can! It’s much appreciated! J
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> Kurt paused mid-step, his eyes snapping towards the television screen. “Scheisse.”
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> “What? Oh, shit…” Scott drew to a halt next to him, his own eyes going wide. “That’s the Institute…”
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> “Ja,” Kurt murmured. “And that’s not good…”
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> “I thought Kitty destroyed the footage…” Scott dropped his duffle bag, his jaw clenching and unclenching in rising annoyance. “How did they get this if she destroyed it?”
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> “She can’t hit everything,” Kurt replied tersely. “She did her best!” Even in their status as ‘who knows what,’ he could not let anyone speak poorly of her. “It looks like it’s just a blurb about the Institute anyway… See? No harm! Just us on the news…” Even as he said it, he knew how ridiculous it sounded. “Um, Scott… why are we on the news?”
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> “Because they’re doing a feature about boarding schools again,” Rogue announced as she rounded the corner, Todd in tow. “He won’t tell me where y’all are going so I’m gonna bug you all till someone gives.” Rogue slid past Scott and blocked the entry to the kitchen, arms akimbo. “It’s too late in the day to be going to the bookstore, it’s too early to hit clubs and besides, you don’t do that with duffle bags unless you’re just freakin’ weird… so what’s up?”
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> Todd shrugged helplessly. “I couldn’t help it! She was in my room when I got there! Naked!”
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> “I was not naked!” Rogue snapped. “Lance was in there!”
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> “Yeah but naked just sounded cooler than ‘she was in my room playing video games with my best friend’.” Todd sighed. “Look, I told you, we’re just going on an errand…” He nearly laughed with relief as Logan tromped into the room, laden with a heavy back pack, face set in a scowl after a brief, annoying encounter with a giggling group of first year students who seemed to find him, from what he overheard, ‘adorable.’ “Logan!”
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> “What? Damn it, why are we on the news?” he snarled, looking past Todd to the television screen in the rec room.
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> “Apparently,” Kurt put in as pleasantly as he could manage, “it’s just a news story on boarding schools…”
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> “Well, Bayville does have three, which is a freakishly high number for such a small town,” Rogue pointed out. “Now where are y’all going?” She fixed Logan with an intent, far too mature gaze, the eyes of someone far older looking out of a teenager’s face. “Well?”
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> “You’re getting too big for your britches, missy,” Logan replied in a very disconcertingly paternal tone. “The boys and I have something to see to. So do you, if I recall. You’re due in the Danger Room for training in ten minutes. I suggest you high tail it down there before I’m forced to cart you off myself.” He raised a brow, shifting his weight so that he stood straight despite the weight of the bag on his back. “Well?” he added, mimicking her tone from a moment before. Rogue visible struggled not to respond, straightening her spine and tossing her hair over her shoulder in a gesture that bespoke time spent with Kitty. After a silent, glaring moment, she strode through the small group and headed for the hall, cursing softly under her breath. “Todd…what’d you tell her?”
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> Todd threw up his hands in a gesture of defeat. “Nothing, I swear! She tried… and I mean REALLY tried…”
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> “Ew,” Kurt and Scott put in as one, wrinkling their noses at the mental image that sprang to mind.
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> “Fuck you both,” Todd shot back. “All she knows is that I’m goin’ with you guys on a quick errand…” He shrugged, looking a tad sheepish. “I swear, that’s all.”
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> Logan stared at him assessingly for a moment, then nodded curtly. “Let’s go.”
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> “No.” Kitty did not look up at Rogue, despite the other teenager’s looming presence. “You know I love you like a sister, right? Well, this space is REALLY small and you’re REALLY crowding me…” She flickered a glance up and smiled weakly. “Can I have some space? Please?”
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> “No.” Rogue bent low so that she could keep her voice down, aware that the security monitoring room was likely under it’s own surveillance. “They’re up to something and you’re the best one here at sneaking around and finding stuff out… so come on! Let’s sneak!” She poked Kitty on the shoulder with her gloved finger. “Come on, pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeease?” she wheedled.
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> “Wow, whining SO does not work on you,” Kitty sighed. “I’m supposed to keep an eye on the Shi’ar until Storm gets here in an hour,” she continued. “Then we can go.” A flicker of movement caught her eye and Rogue followed her gaze to the farthest monitor, the one for the hangar. “Uh, or not.”
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> “What the Hell? Where are they taking the jet?” Rogue straightened, frowning deeply. “You still able to hack into the computer down there?”
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> “That won’t do any good if they don’t file a flight plan, you know…” Kitty was already scooting down the work space towards the end monitor, reaching for the keyboard. “But if they don’t file a flight plan, that means that they’re doing something vaguely illegal or something sneaky. Or both.”
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> Rogue bounced on her toes, worry for Todd suddenly welling in her breast. She knew what the Brotherhood was like, she knew how Todd was used to operating despite his time at the Institute. The fact he was with Logan, Scott and Kurt did not make her feel any better—too many hot tempers in one enclosed space would not end well. “Maybe they’re just heading to Boston to help Emma with something,” she murmured, watching as the jet powered up, the sliding bay doors slowly slipping wide.
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> “Mmmm…” Kitty frowned and rapidly entered a series of commands, trying to override the security for the hangar’s computers. “Well, hell. They’ve put on a lock. It’ll take me ten minutes to get through this…” She began typing faster, one eye on the monitor and one on what she was doing. “Damn it… it’s not going to work, Rogue.” As she spoke, the jet rolled into position for take off.
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> Rogue bit off a harsh curse under her breath and slapped her hand on her thigh in irritation. “Damn it…” A flicker of light burst to life in her eyes and a slight smile curved her lips. “Lance. Todd can’t NOT tell Lance a secret…”