One by one the SUVs stopped nearby a huge warehouse. Charles was the first to get out with the help of the driver, the rest followed him out and they all headed into the warehouse.
"So Vali, have you ever been in a jet before?" Jean asked. She was very curious about the new guy.
Vali looked at the blackbird with some awe and replied, "yes I have but this is my first time riding a jet like this one, I'm looking forward to it."
Jean was a little surprised and asked, "really? Were you a pilot?"
"Yeah but that was a long time ago, I don't really like talking about it." Vali perfunctory replied before he quickly followed after Charles.
He wanted to get away from Jean, for some reason he didn't feel comfortable around her. He remembers that Jean was an empathetic person maybe this was the reason he didn't like being around her.
Vali and Jean were complete opposites like ice and fire so Vali doesn't mix well with her. He doesn't hate her, he just doesn't like being around her at most he had a neutral disposition with her.
The last thing Vali needed right now was empathy from anyone, he hated it when people tried to empathize with him, though it was a different story when he felt empathy for others like Flint.
It was quite an interesting mindset he had and it was indeed hypocritical of him but this was just how he was and didn't give a damn if others condemned him for it.
"Charles, have you found anything on magneto yet?" Vali asked as he caught up to Charles, he needed something to keep him from interacting with Jean and Logan... and Scott.
Charles suddenly stopped when he heard Vali mention magneto, for the past few weeks he was hoping Vali would forget about magneto but it was hopeless.
Vali had been keeping tabs on him every few days, making sure Charles didn't try anything behind his back. He had absolutely no trust for Charles especially when dealing with magneto.
"We've been trying but there's not much on him right now..." Charles replied with a bit of reluctance.
"Charles, magneto is very dangerous for the students in your school. I hope you're still not trying to protect him, if you are, I'm afraid this counts as betrayal!" Vali leaned over Charles wheelchair and whispered behind his ear.
Typical villain move. This was something Vali had picked up from many movies and tv shows and to be truthful it was quite effective as he had done it many times in his life and many of those times, he got what he wanted.
To others it just looked like Vali was helping Charles up the ramp to the jet but in actually, a game of psychological warfare was being played between the two with Vali holding the advantage over Charles.
"No worries, magneto is a lost cause, I'm no longer willing to tolerate his actions!" Charles replied a bit more firmly than before.
He still didn't know how powerful Vali was so he was careful around Vali. He had actually tried multiple times the past few weeks to try and dig into Vali's mind but every time he was meet with endless darkness.
It was unsettling for Charles whenever he entered that darkness and he always felt fearful when he treaded around in the darkness of Vali's mind.
Earlier he had tried to pry into Vali's mind again but this time it was different. What he first thought of as light in the darkness turned out to be countless pairs of ghastly blue eyes watching his every move.
He immediately left Vali's mind with cold sweat running down his back. He fearfully looked at Vali's figure and vowed to himself to never enter Vali's mind again unless he wants to be scared to death.
Vali took notice to Charles changes in composure and lightly smiled, "you saw them, didn't you?"
Charles immediately shook his head in denial, "n... no, saw what? I didn't see anything!"
Vali chuckled and said, "relax, the one I want dead is magneto not you. You still need to take care of the kids, I respect that but I don't recommend you to enter my head again."
Charles just dumbly nodded before he strapped himself in along with the others. He finally learned his lesson this time, he definitely can't make an enemy of Vali.
Vali looked at the cock pit then tapped the pilot on the shoulder, "we don't need a pilot, I'll be piloting. Is that ok with everyone?" Vali looked back at the others.
Scott and Jean sitting directly behind him didn't really have a problem with it and agreed while Logan completely ignored him and sat quietly in the back corner.
The pilot also looked back, mainly at Charles to see what what his opinion was and Charles just nodded, "you can leave."
Hearing what Charles said, the pilot quietly left the jet without any issues. After the pilot left Vali sat down and buckled himself in.
He looked at the controls on the jet and felt nostalgic as he lightly ran his fingers across them.
"Closing hatch and were taking off!" Vali clicked a few buttons allowing the jet to slowly start up and before they knew it they were already taking off into the skies.
.....
"How is he? Any signs of recovery?" Asked an unknown man in a gray hoodie and black sweatpants.
"I don't know, whatever that bastard did to him, it's eating up his health rapidly." A young girl seemingly in her teens replied haggardly.
On a block of ice laid a young man with a pale complexion and moaning in pain. His entire body was shivering from the head down and there was cold white mist being emitted from his body.
All the sweat that he produced immediately froze as soon as they exited his body coating his body with small chunks of ice, if he didn't get help soon then he would surely freeze to death eventually.
"I interrogated Ross, he doesn't have a cure for this..." The man in the sweatshirt commented.
When the teenage girl heard this she became hysterical and broke down. The hoodie man just stood there in silence and looked on without any intention of consoling the girl, he didn't know how to.
"No, no, no, no! Roberts not dead yet, he can still be saved. I... I can help him!" The girl refused to accept this and tried to reach for the young man but before she could even get close enough her hand already started turning blue.
The hoodie man immediately pulled her back before she further hurt herself. Fortunately the cold was only concentrated around Roberts body within a five meter radius and within that five meter radius was a land of ice.
"Are you trying to kill yourself?" The man in the hoodie berated.
The girl tried to shake him off but it was hopeless, his hold was too strong.
"I don't care! We wouldn't even be alive if it weren't for Robert, I don't care if I die with him!" The girl squealed.
The man in the hoodie suddenly felt angry when he heard this coming out of the girls mouth, "you don't care? Stop being selfish, do you think Robert wouldn't care? How do you think he would feel if you made him kill his friends?"
The sudden realization struck the girl and she broke down again, "then what are we supposed to do? Just watch him die like this? I... I can't do that!"
"None of us wants to do that, do you think you're the only one who c..." before the man could finish a young boy suddenly rushed in with a flushed face.
"I... intruders! There's a big plane in the yard!" The young boy quickly exclaimed while panicked.
The man in the hoodie frowned when he heard this and asked, "who are they? Are they Rosses men?"
The boy quickly shook his head, "I don't know but I don't think they are... they're mutants, like us."
"Where are they now?" The man asked.
The boy quickly replied, "they found us instantly when they landed and are now in the big room talking to the others."
The hoodie man nodded. He looked at the girl still on the ground crying and said to the boy, "keep an eye on Lilly, don't let her do anything stupid. I'm going to check up on out guests."
"Ok!" Replied the boy as he sat down next to Lilly and started humming a weird tune.
The man shook his head helplessly as he watched the young boy start to hum some strange song that was played on the radio before he headed out to meet the visitors.
In the main room all the mutants were gathered around Vali and the rest of the gang. Charles was a real people's person so all the talking was left up to him. He was quickly able to gain the group of mutants trust.
On the other hand Vali was looking around carefully at the group and suddenly asked, "is this all of you? Are there any powerful ice users here?"
Immediately everyone went quiet and the entire group of mutants became wary. They all eyed Vali almost instantaneously causing the whole atmosphere in the room to become tense.
It was really awkward for Vali who instantly became the center of attention for everyone but he didn't really care and only waited for someone to answer him.
At this moment the door in the back suddenly opened and everyone's attention was shifted. The man in the hoodie walked in and went up to the gathering of people.
When Vali saw the man his eyes brightened as he felt that that the man was strong, not as strong as him but it was definitely enough to kill hulk v2 with a surprise attack.
"Are you the iceman?" Vali asked curiously.
Iceman? The man in the hoodie was confused for a second but was able to connect that Vali was most likely asking about Robert causing him to immediately become wary and got ready to fight if needed.
"What do you want with Robert!" A random hotheaded mutant in the group suddenly shouted but was immediately stopped by another mutant from saying anything else.
Vali smiled and asked, "Robert? Is that your name?"