Crimson's POV:
I was in the middle of a lesson when Charles suddenly entered my mind.
"Without alarming your students I need all of you to come down to my office immediately"
Well shit. How exactly can every teacher leave their class suddenly at the same time without alarming any of the kids? Shoot come on, think of something. Oh, that might work.
"Guys, please behave yourselves, I have to step out for a few minutes to help Professor X move some new equipment in. Just keep working on your projects"
The kids seemed to buy my excuse and thankfully none of them are telepathic. I left my classroom and noticed everyone else leaving there's. What could possibly have happened that requires all of us immediately? Nothing good. We all jogged down to Charles' office and stood impatiently. All of the school staff had crammed into Charles' office. Tension filled the room and we all seemed to dread what would happen next. Charles finally spoke up.
"King Andrew has just boarded a private flight to New York. He hasn't disclosed where he's going, but judging by the number of guards and level of security, I'd expect he's going to pay us a visit. We've got just under eight hours until he lands, prepare yourselves and work on securing the school. It is imperative that we don't scare the kids. They've just started to trust us, we can't let them know that they are in danger. Protecting them is the number one priority," Charles spoke.
"Let me get this straight Charles, in order to not betray their trust in us, we have to lie to their faces?" Scott asked.
"The chaos of nearly two hundred mutants who aren't in control of their powers learning that their lives in grave danger would make the situation far worse," Charles answered.
"That flight lands at 6 pm, the kids will all be awake. What do we do with them to make sure they don't know?" Kurt asked.
"I can show them a movie," Jubilee suggested.
"I'll get a screen and everything set up in the bomb shelter. They'll be far away from any danger, they won't be able to see or hear anything and they will all be in the safest place available," Hank added.
"So, we all know what we have to do?" Erik asked the group. A chorus of yes's erupted through the cramped office. Everyone split off and went back to their classrooms. Now to just teach for four more hours and not make the kids suspicious. I walked back into my classroom and half the kids were working and half were goofing off with their friends.
"Miss Howlett, what was the new equipment for?" Desiree asked.
"It's stuff for a movie night tonight! Everyone's gonna gather together and we're gonna have a nice movie night!" I spoke trying to sound enthusiastic.
"Where are we all gonna fit?" One of my other students asked.
"Unfortunately, the only room big enough to fit everyone in is the shelter in the basement," I answered. Desiree gave me a skeptical look and she definitely didn't believe me, but it seemed like the rest were convinced.
Four Hours Later (Four Hours Before The Plane Lands) [2 pm]
I dismissed my last class of the day. I followed the kids out of the room before splitting off to go to the training room. I entered and Erik was already there having some one-on-one time with the punching bag. He looked up when I walked in.
"Fancy a spar?" He asked.
"With you? Always," I answered with a smirk. We moved over to the padded part of the floor before getting into a better position.
"Is Charles adjusting well to walking?"
"He forgets sometimes in the morning"
Erik lunged forward and moved out of the way before pushing on his back to bring him to the ground.
"He'll lay in bed and wait, forgetting he doesn't need my help to get up"
Erik grabbed my ankle and pulled me down to the floor next to him before rolling on top of me.
"Cute"
I wrapped my legs around one of Erik's and twisted so he fell down onto his back.
"Has your little loverboy come to terms with his gift yet?"
I grabbed one of Erik's legs with my arm and tried to pin him, but he kicked me in the jaw.
"Nope, he still thinks he's a monster and he doesn't deserve me and all that nonsense"
Erik pushed down on my shoulders causing me to fall face down onto the mat.
"He's right about not deserving you"
I tried to push off the ground but Erik pressed me back down.
"Yes, he does. If anything you don't deserve me"
Erik swung one leg over my side and pressed his legs around mine to keep me in place. He then pressed down on my back with one hand and used the other to turn my head so I was looking at him.
"Oh, I deserve you, but you don't deserve me"
He let go of his hold and pulled himself off the ground before helping me up as well.
"Not bad for a 50-year-old man"
"Oh shut up"
"What's next you gonna point your cane at me and tell me to get off your lawn?"
"If you ever catch me using a cane as anything other than an accessory you can just kill me"
Three Hours Later (One Hour Before The Plane Lands) [5 pm]
We were going room by room through the whole school and sending all the kids to the shelter. Almost everyone seemed to fully believe that it was just a fun movie night. I was knocking on dorms and sending kids down. I had knocked and looked inside both Desiree and Warren's rooms but neither of them were there. They were probably just somewhere else in the school or maybe they had gone downstairs early.
After gathering every student, as far as we know we started up the movie. I glanced around the shelter and it looked like roughly two hundred kids. I looked down at my watch "5:38 pm", we don't have time to stick around and do a full headcount. I gave Jubilee a thumbs up and gestured for the others to leave with me. We pushed the large door shut as quietly as we could. Charles did the full lock on it and Erik pulled many pieces of metal to barricade it as much as possible.
We all went up to the lab to meet Hank who had new technology that was added to our battle uniform. The flight suits themselves were more bulky and thick now, with armor plating and thicker fabric. We were all given the standard wristband with a GPS tracker and a heartrate monitor. Hank had also designed a portable amplifier for Charles and Jean to help them protect our minds from Andrew. There was some specialty gear as well. Hank handed a new blocker for Scott's powers, that seemed to hold very firmly onto his face, different from the sunglasses he used before. Hank gave a small screen for my forearm that displayed the heartrates of everyone, to alert me if anyone needed healing.
We were as ready if we'd ever be.
Warren's POV:
5 pm
I heard footsteps coming down the hall and I knew the teachers were coming to round us all up. I whispered to Desiree and she followed my lead as we hid inside my closet. Soon the door to my room opened and I heard Miss Howlett call out.
"Warren?"
She waited a minute before I heard her leave and shut the door. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding.
"Now we wait for them to start up their distraction," I whispered.
"And then we figure out what they've been hiding from us," Desiree whispered back.
45 minutes later [5:45 pm]
We figured it had more than enough time and it was safe to begin snooping. We snuck around the school and didn't see anyone at first. Then I heard a door open and I quickly froze and thankfully Desiree did as well. I carefully peered out over the balcony. All of the teachers were dressed in outfits that resembled the ones they wore in the battles I'd seen them fight in on the news. There is no way that is a good sign.
"War uniforms and they've locked all the kids away in the bomb shelter..." Desiree whispered.
"You scared?" I teased.
"A little. I would prefer it if I didn't die today," Desiree whispered back.
"Why? You got a hot date or something?" I questioned, secretly very invested in the answer.
"No, I've got to live long enough to tease my baby brother, Bobby," She answered.
Suddenly Mr. Howlett turned around and stared right at us. Oh shit. That is definitely not a good sign.
"Bobby Drake?" Mr. Howlett asked.
"Uh, yeah," Desiree answered.
"What do you know the kid or something?" I asked.
"Or something," Mr. Howlett replied.
The rest of the teachers came back, probably to see what Mr. Howlett was doing. They followed his gaze up to us and looked at us with mixed expressions. And this is how I get expelled. Great job Warren, you've managed to drag Desiree down with you.
"We have to put them with the others to protect them"
"There's no time"
"What if they told them what they saw?"
"We have to keep everyone safe"
"They're Tier 5 students, not kids"
"They haven't been trained for this"
"I'm not sending students into battle"
"We don't have a choice"
"You two you're coming with us, protect each other and let us handle to the bulk of the fight. Just stay back and protect the school. No one gets in or out."
Suddenly, the sound of several helicopters in the distance could be heard and the sound was only getting louder.
"What exactly are we doing?" I asked.
"Fighting the King of England," Professor X answered.
"Killing the King of England," Mr. Lehnsherr answered.