Matt, Meggan, Molly, & Wade | Monday Evening

[x-deadpool.livejournal.com]

Meggan, Matt, and Wade go looking for Molly. Luckily, they find her.


The ballroom, while majestic as most things in the Xavier Mansion, was dark. Tables and chairs had been neatly packed away ages ago in a corner and covered by plastic sheets. It had been disused for awhile now, save for the occasional attack by a feather duster or broom to combat dust bunnies. It appeared disused at first glance, but only at first glance. 

Meggan quietly pushed open the door, peeking inside the ballroom as she did so.  She opened it wider, both to let in more light, and to allow the others more room to get inside.  This was a really good hiding place, she had to admit despite the worry she felt.  Somewhere, anyway, since she didn’t see or hear the girl they were looking for on a first probing look around the room.  Maybe she was behind a box, or under a table, obscured by whatever might happen to be in the way?   Meggan made her way over to the first table to start checking under each and every one of them, hoping to spot a sleepy Molly. 

Darkness did not bother Matt at all as he stepped into the ballroom behind Meggan. "Big," he commented, tapping his cane against the floor to get the reverb and a feel for the size of the room. The good news was that the room was pretty quiet, making the few sounds there stand out. The bad news was the size of the room made everything echo slightly and distorted it so that he had trouble making out where the noises were coming from. "Really big." 

Propping the door open, Wade walked quietly into the ballroom. Dark and big - that pretty much summed the place up nicely. "Yeah," he said, agreeing with Matt. He knew how the kid's powers worked, so he stood still to minimize the noise he was making, all the while letting his eyes adjust. 

The sliver of warm light seemed out of place, giving the rich woods of the walls and floor and the vibrant red curtains on the stage, where bands had played in days gone by, a new life when cast in the glow. Nothing seemed out of place, both in sight and sound. The silence hung in the air between footsteps, the only noise being the quiet hum of the heater through the floor vents and the occasional tinkle of crystals in the chandelier. But then, after the silence had finally settled, came a sniffle, a hiss of air barely noticeable save for those with special hearing. A soft, shallow breathing followed it, coupled with the beating of a tiny heart. 

Meggan nodded in agreement with both of them—it really was huge, especially when you were looking for someone.  She only heard the faintest whisper of rustling fabric as she carefully rearranged a covering with flowers back over the table, and straightened out a wrinkle.  She hoped Matt would have luck, and pick up what their ears couldn’t.  She didn't dare to make a sound as she stood back out of Matt’s way, not wanting to be the reason something important was missed. 

“I hear her," Matt whispered the heartbeat was unmistakable, though coupled with the congested breathing, it didn't quite sound like Molly. It had to be her though. That or there was someone else about that size, "She's...that way," he used his titanium cane to tap the floor, trying to get a better idea of the space and of where she was as he walked. 

Well that was promising, at least. Wade wiggled his fingers, walking quietly in the direction Matt had indicated. He knew it probably wasn't quiet enough to keep from distracting Matt, but there was only so much you could do when somebody you were with had hyper senses. "Good work, kid - can you pinpoint it any more for me?" 

The tiny nose sniffled again, this time coming from closer to the stage. Molly also gave a cough, this one loud enough for everyone to hear, wet, quiet, and raspy. 

Meggan glanced at Wade at the sound, before stepping closer to where it had originated.  That was either coming from beneath the stage, or somewhere beside it.  She sat down beside the stage, not really seeing anything Mollyesque to coax out of hiding.  If it was the wrong spot, she should still be near enough to hear Meggan, given that Matt had heard her. Softly, not wanting to startle her, Meggan called, “Molly?  Please come out.  If you’re under there, you’re not in any trouble.  None.  You really don’t need to be alone.”  Not if she was as sick as that cough had sounded. 

"What's this?" Matt asked, reaching the stage and tapping it. "She's...under it. I can hear her," he added, though that was a little silly since he could hear most of everything. "Is there a door or something?" 

Meggan wasn’t certain, but it seemed like their best bet if she was under there.  ”There might be something like a big trap door, where someone could come up or down in a scene during a play to add some drama—there usually is for big stages,” she offered as she carefully clambered up on top of it, feeling around.   With so many shadows, it would be easy to overlook something otherwise.  Her fingers bumped something.  “Oh!  A latch, I’ve found a latch like a floppy switch near the edge of the curtain,” she called out.  Relatively near to where Matt had heard Molly.  There was a latch for a door, but was it the right one? 

The sound of movement up above made Molly scoot further away toward the back part of the stage in the corner. It was dark and quiet and no one could find her there except when they found her now. It had been a good spot for a little awhile. 

"No," she said, her voice raspy and squeaky and small, as she pulled the blanket she'd brought with her over her head. 

"Go away please."  It hurt to talk and it hurt to swallow and it hurt to cough and she was hot, then cold, then hot some more but the blanket could hide her. 

Going in carefully in case there were things other than Molly under the stage, Matt approached her, "Can't do that, Short Stuff," he informed her, picking her up easily and sitting down with her in his lap, "There're a bunch of us all worried about you and looking for you. Why're you hiding under here alone in the dark anyways?" 

Molly seemed almost smaller than normal, nearly lost in the blanket she'd brought with her. She bowed her head, putting her chin to her chest and pulling her arms around her shoulders. "Don't feel good...mom and daddy take care of me and they're not here..." she said, suddenly breaking off into a series of coughs that made her whimper and bury her head in her arms. She was supposed to be strong and unsquishable. 

"I want my mom and daddy. They take care of me." 

Wade went through the door that led beneath the stage after Matt and, once the kid had gotten Molly situated, the mercenary hunkered down next to the two of them. "Hey," he said, reaching over to smooth the hair atop Molly's head. "Hey, half-pint. I'm sorry I can't go get your mom and daddy for you, alright? But they wouldn't want you to get sicker waiting for them, would they?" He wasn't sure, but she felt hot - it was difficult to tell from just touching the top of her head, but that was generally where heat escaped from, anyway, and Wade wasn't at all familiar with illness for obvious reasons. "Why don't you c'mere and we'll go see Doctor Beast, okay?" 

As she stepped closer, Meggan winced in sympathy at the sound of that cough, before leaning over to her.  “It’s better if you’re sick and comfortable in a nice bed, Molly, than sick and alone in the dark,” she said softly to Molly.  Nobody should be alone when they were sick.  If Molly were this bad, Meggan could only assume a headache might be mixed up in the rest of her symptoms, and she didn’t want to aggravate it.  “You’ll feel better with Doctor Beast and people, even if you still feel very blah and yucky right now.”  

In the light, the girl was ashen and pale. A thin layer of sweat glistened across her forehead. She peered up at Wademan and Meggan, then looked back down, biting her lip. 

"Can he sing?" she said faintly. "My daddy sings." 

He said he only did it for her when she was sick to make her feel better. She liked it when he sang. It was funny. 

"Sure," Matt agreed, not caring if Dr. Beast did or not. Someone would. "Allyoop," he grunted, holding Molly as he brought her out to the main part of the ballroom, holding her like a child in his arms. Absently, he rubbed her back. "I'll sing if he doesn't. Or Wade. Though I should warn you, neither of us are the next American Idol." 

"Definitely not," Wade said, following Matt and Molly out from beneath the stage. "But I'll sing if you want - though I'll give you a pillow to whack me with when you want me to stop." Matt was stronger than most people would have thought, given his gymnastics training, but Wade was pretty sure he'd need to be able to concentrate on something other than the sniffling girl in his arms if he was going to manage the hallways. "I'll take her, Matt," he said in an undertone, briefly touching the kid's left elbow. 

Meggan brought up the rear as they exited the stage area.  “He’ll sing you Backstreet Boys.  Badly, in many different keys if you like,” she jokingly warned, despite her worry.  Since Molly might be too sick and too young for the Milkshake Song.  If it came to all of them chipping in with music, surely she could mimic some song from the radio for her entertainment.  “If you want to try watching something, we’ll find whatever you want,” Meggan added. 

Passing Molly to Wade, Matt was grateful for the assist. She didn't weigh anything practically, but he was highly distracted with her in his arms. Between her sniffles, heartbeat and everything else, interpreting what he was hearing was not easy. "You're going to be fine Miss Molly," he assured her. 

They were leaving the ballroom when Wade looked over at Matt and Meggan. "You two should each wash your hands and drink a lot of orange juice or something - neither of you have healing factors." And it would royally suck for either of them to get what Molly had. 

“I will,” Meggan nodded. She was not eager to live through the misery of what Molly was dealing with. “I saw V8 in the fridge earlier, too, so I’ll get some.  With the orange juice, to cover everything.”  She hoped an insane amount of vitamins in there would ward anything off.  “Matt, there’s enough cans of V8 for you, if you want one,” she offered.

Molly had been resting her head against Wade but lifted it when he mentioned 'healing.' "You...you...heal when you're hurt" she said, her eyebrows furrowing with a deep frown.

"Am...I gonna hurt them?" Her eyes widened . 

"I...I don't wanna hurt--" the rest of her words were cut off as she started to cough uncontrollably.

"We'll be fine," Matt assured her, though he had no idea about if he was telling the truth or not. The truth wasn't as important as Molly feeling better, "We'll drink some V8 or whatever, have some of that airborne stuff and no problem. "Thanks, Meggan, that sounds good to me."

"They'll be okay, half-pint," Wade said, heading down the hall to the elevator so they could get to the medlab. He wasn't sure how you were supposed to take care of a sick kid if you couldn't poke them with needles to find out what was wrong, but he was pretty sure Osmosis Joe would have a pretty good idea of how to go about it. "Right now, we're gonna concentrate on making sure you get better."