"I'm hiding... it's safe in here. I'm hiding, I feel safe in here." Hiding by Violet Indiana
The trio weaved their way past Kezing agents who seemed to be multiplying by the minute. They were crawling all throughout the halls and starting to pick rooms to stay in. Lilli assumed that the Kezing agents were staying in the Institute, and it made her feel sick. She felt like a citizen of a small town that was being occupied by an evil empire.
It took a few minutes, but Lilli, Warren, and Peter eventually arrived at the basement. Fortunately, the lights were on. The three X-Men weaved their way from room to room, making sure to stay quiet. There weren't any Kezing agents that they could see, but that didn't mean that there weren't some lurking in dark corners.
"Where are they?" Lilli whispered after they'd searched the majority of the basement without seeing any of the others. She looked at Peter and Warren but they only shrugged. They didn't know either.
"Psst!" Came a noise. Lilli jumped and whirled around to see Ororo poking her head out of a doorway that led to a storage closet. "Lilli? Peter? Warren? Are you guys there?" She asked, looking around the room.
"Ororo?" Lilli asked, looking at Ororo suspiciously. She didn't drop the invisibility just yet— she didn't know it it was really Ororo or a shapeshifter.
"Lilli?" Ororo asked, looking in Lilli's direction. She sighed in relief. "Oh, thank God. Come here, we're all back in here."
"How do I know it's really you?" Lilli asked suspiciously. "Prove it. I'm not coming until I know for sure it's you."
Ororo bit her lip. "Umm... you sleep with a stuffed pig named Mr Cuddles?"
Lilli shook her invisible head. "Everyone knows about Mr Cuddles," she said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"I didn't," Warren and Peter objected in unison. Lilli sent a glare to the both of them— they were grinning— and turned back to Ororo.
"Something else. Something only you would know." She pressed. Ororo frowned.
"You used to reenact scenes from Star Wars with me and you'd always play R2D2 and would pretend—" Ororo started, but Lilli quickly cut her off.
"Okay, okay, it's you, let's go," she said quickly, not wanting Ororo to finish her sentence. She let go of Peter and Warren's hands, turning them all back to be visible. Ororo looked up at them and nodded.
"Okay, let's go. I will take you," she said, turning on her heel and into the dark storage room. Lilli followed, with Peter and Warren close behind her. They all walked to the back of the storage room, where Ororo started feeling the wall. Lilli exchanged a curious glance with Peter.
"What are you doing?" Peter asked Ororo. She shushed him, rubbing her hands around the stones for another few seconds until she hit a rock about halfway up the wall. She pressed it and stood back. Lilli jumped as a small section of the wall slid sideways, creating a small doorway. Ororo looked back at Lilli and laughed.
"Scaredy cat," she taunted. Lilli rolled her eyes.
"Oh, shut up. Where does this lead to?" She asked.
"Follow me. I will show you," Ororo said. She turned back around and stepped through the dark doorway. Lilli followed closely behind her.
The doorway led into a small, closet-sized room. The stone walls were damp with moisture and the floor was packed dirt. It was pitch black with no lighting whatsoever. Lilli could only barely make out her friends' shapes because of the light from outside of the storage room. Peter and Warren crammed in behind Lilli and Ororo, and the four of them were packed like sardines in the room. Lilli sneezed three times as a few of Warren's feathers ticked her nose.
Lilli's chest started to tighten and her hands began to sweat. She didn't like this. She felt too cramped; too claustrophobic. She was hyper aware of everything that was touching her, from the stone pressed to her back to Ororo's jacket to Warren's wings.
"Ro, are you sure this is the right place?" Peter asked. He was smushed in the corner opposite Lilli; almost completely covered by Warren's wings.
"Yes," Ororo said. She was down on the ground and running her hand along the base of the wall. "Aha!" She exclaimed. Lilli heard a click! and the door they'd just came through started to slide back shut.
"Ororo?" Lilli asked nervously. "What's going on?" She started to breathe a little quicker as the doorway disappeared and they were all plunged into darkness.
"That door has to close," Ororo said, "for this one to open." Right as she spoke, the wall she'd been looking at started to slide to the side, revealing a long hallway filled with lit lanterns. Lilli immediately pushed her way out of the small closet and into the hallway, relishing in the light and the newfound space. She took a couple deep breaths and calmed her racing heart.
"Are you alright?" Warren's worried voice came from beside Lilli. She turned around and looked up into his face and noted his concerned features.
"Yes, I'm fine now," Lilli answered, nodding her head. She turned back around to face the hallway, unaware of Warren's lingering gaze on her.
The hallway wasn't too wide. Lilli could stretch her arms out and her fingers would just barely brush the moist stone walls on either side of her. The ceiling wasn't too high either; it was maybe about 6 feet. Warren and Peter's heads were just underneath the ceiling. The hallway slightly sloped down in such a manner that Lilli couldn't see the end of it. She'd never known that this hallway or the secret door even existed.
Apparently, neither did Warren or Peter. "Since when has this been here?" Peter was asking.
"Why didn't I know about this?" Warren asked, sounding not too pleased.
"Relax. The only one who knew about it was Professor. Come on, it's not a long walk." Ororo said. She stepped past Lilli and started heading down the hallway. Lilli shared an unsure glance with Warren and Peter before following Ororo down the hallway.
Ororo was right— only a minute or so later they arrived at a dead end. "Is there another secret door?" Lilli asked. Ororo nodded.
"Yes," she answered. "I think it was this one... aha!" Ororo pressed a stone and the wall suddenly started swinging inward. Lilli poked her head into the new room and gasped.
It was a gigantic room that had to be the size of an NFL football field. Its cavernous ceilings soared multiple stories upwards; so high that Lilli had to crane her neck upwards to see the top. The room was brightly lit with fluorescents and bright white LED lights, casting everything in a stark white glow. The ground was a diamond-plated metal floor and the walls were of a smooth, stainless steel finish.
Along the walls were multiple doors, some closed and some opened. There were also many hallways leading out in separate rooms that Lilli couldn't see. She slowly made her way to the center of the gigantic floor and spun in a slow circle, taking it all in. What was this place?
"Professor! We're back!" Ororo called, her voice bouncing off of the walls and echoing all around the room. Lilli frowned as she spun in slow circles. Where was everyone else?
Her question was quickly answered as the rest of the X-Men started streaming out of a hallway near the back of the room. Professor X came first, followed quickly by Hank, Raven, Scott, Jean, and finally Kurt. They all wore matching expressions of relief on their faces as they hurriedly made their way over to the center of the room.
"Oh, thank God you guys made it," Jean breathed out, smiling in relief. She quickly wrapped Lilli up in a tight hug, which was happily returned.
"What is this place?" Lilli found herself asking as she pulled away from Jean. "And what are you all doing here? Kezing is up there!"
"Why didn't I ever know about this room?" Warren demanded from behind Lilli. "I thought you all trusted me!"
"Why didn't you guys come to our meeting?" Peter asked. "Did you lock us in?"
"If you'll all be quiet, I can answer your questions," Professor spoke loudly, his voice sounding slightly angry. Lilli, Warren and Peter quickly quieted down and looked at Professor X in anticipation. "Thank you," he said gratefully. "Follow me to the meeting room and I'll explain everything that I can."
"No!" Lilli exclaimed, barely stopping herself from stomping her foot angrily. He was wasting time. They couldn't go to a meeting room if they were being invaded! "Our school is under attack, we have to help the kids!"
"She's right," Warren chimed in. Lilli looked back at him and smiled appreciatively. At least he wasn't getting distracted.
"We can't just barge up there without a plan," Raven reasoned from next to Professor. "We have to know what we're doing."
Lilli frowned. Raven was right. The stakes were high; they couldn't afford to be rash. "Fine," she grumbled, crossing her arms. "But! You'd better make this quick," Lilli exclaimed indignantly, looking down at Professor X.
He nodded. "I will. Now, if you would please follow me," he said, turning in his wheelchair and heading back to the hallway the other X-Men had came out of.
Lilli sighed as she followed the group to the hallway. This better be good, she thought bitterly to herself. As she neared the hallway, she threw one last quick glance to the door back up to the Institute before it disappeared from her view.
—————
Hi everyone!! I decided that I want to start doing authors notes at the end of the chapters because I feel like this story and my account in particular is so impersonal and I want to change that :))
This update is a little later than usual but that's only because I've been really busy recently and working my butt off every day, so I've had less time to write unfortunately:(
I want to hear from you guys!! How are you liking this story? How'd you like the first book? Do you have any predictions/questions/opinions/suggestions? I LOVE hearing from you guys, it seriously makes my day every single time one of you guys comments ❤️
I don't want to make this too long so I'll go now hahaha but thank you so much for reading this far if you did. I'll make sure to send you a gold medal and lots of chocolate ❤️
Love,
Serbisa