Fic: Prey 04 (Beta Version)
Ps. If there are still mistakes, you know it's my fault. :P
Author's Note:I've decided to make this story as an open-ending one, which means it won't have a definite ending to this crossover, I'll go along with it for as long as I can and whenever I have an idea, this way the writing won't become a burden and kill the interests.
-Gotham, Wayne Tower.
Closing his sleek black cell phone shut, the master of Wayne empire had a satisfied smirk on his face. His timing was, as always, perfect. Of course, when his relationship with his brunet (there's no doubt to that assumption) settled well on its course, Bruce would have to remind him to be more careful about talking to strangers. Not that Scott wouldn't have noticed something amiss already. That man has instincts sharp enough to cut through diamonds, even if Scott Summers was known to be someone who generally prefers his logical side. Bruce had made a reservation at the small Italian restaurant Clark and Richard recommended. He would take Richard's recommendations in food over anyone any day. He was, apart from Alfred, the best cook Bruce knew. Clark...well, he's alien, remember? Besides, it's not like Kent cared what he put in his mouth when he was with Richard. Bruce made sure the reservations tonight were for only him and Scott, since his boy was the shy type. He himself was too famous even outside Gotham. Even though the restaurant was low-keyed enough to be kept from the paparazzi's radar, Bruce didn't want anything or anyone to spook his date, or to sniff around him. Bruce chose today to progress his courting plan (he called it "Plan Tracking and Detaining Permanently" in his mind) because....
Poor Scott's going to have donuts and instant soup for dinner. Bruce winced at seeing the choices on the X-Men's dinner plan. As much as Bruce hated to admit there was anything he wasn't good at, it was cooking, and even he could come up with something better than that.
Also, Emma Frost, the former White Queen of HellFire Club, was arriving to meet with Professor Xavier to discuss her future alliance tonight. She had been eyeing the leader of X-Men for some time, and was quite obvious with her intentions now that Miss Grey was out of the picture. Which didn't set well with Bruce's plans, and he was not one to let others pounce on what was to be his. Though he would gladly pay good money to see the icy Queen have donuts and instant soup for dinner.
The main and final reason was he had had a tough time concentrating on his business and crime-fighting activities after their little rendezvous from the night in the Blackbird. The delicious moans, pliant mouth made for kissing, smooth-yet-not-delicate skin, smells of sunlight, apple and grass from the writhing, warm and hard body were all well-preserved in his memory and dreams, intoxicating and captive, especially the part of his scent. Batman might be the Knight of the Dark, but Bruce Wayne was still a human who craved the light of hope, and now he had both in his grasp, the King of Gotham had no intention of letting either one of them go.
During the tracking and detaining game he started, he had somehow become a prey in his own domain. If he wasn't careful, Alfred, the loyal and dependable right-hand butler, was going to get suspicious...If the old man wasn't already. Something about those amused crinkles around the wise eyes were telling. Robin, on the other hand, was too inexperienced to really understand what was going on, as good of a kid as he was, the boy hadn't been made for deceptiveness and games...maybe when he grew up.
He didn't plan anything further than a dinner and some time alone with Scott Summers on their first 'date'. Rushing the boy wasn't high on his to-do list., as well as getting him into bed, even though Bruce really wanted to. He knew well enough when was the right time to be aggressive and when was not. Cyclops was a man of discipline and reason, a man in control, and those type of people would never appreciate being pressed into doing things they weren't ready for. They'd rebel eventually, and Bruce Wayne wasn't about to lose this one. He'd play it slow and careful, with patience and determination to win Summers' heart and his place in his bed.
Swirling the crystal ruby liquid in the goblet slowly, Wayne mused his next move. There were some uncertain odds in his vision of victory. First, the X-Men lived and worked together, which meant that there wasn't much hope in getting Scott to move out of Xavier Mansion, and he had to stay in Gotham for obvious reason. Second, Scott is the leader of the mutant outlaws and de facto son to Xavier, the chance of him leaving the field was even more remote. Third, there was a possibility that some key members of Scott's extended family were not going to be very happy or supportive to see Bruce become involved with their Heir Apparent, especially Logan (the infamous Wolverine, cynical old war dog) and Scott's blood family Alexander Summers (Havok, the hotheaded little brother) and Nathan Christopher Summers (Cable, Scott's tough mercenary son from the future), and least but not the last, there was Jean Grey (the so-called Phoenix)...
Smiling wryly at his reflection in the sparkling bloodred liquid, he let his thoughts get the best of him. With so many choices in the universe, he just had to pick the one person with the most complicated ties to settle down with, huh?...Never a man who makes things easy, are you Bruce Wayne? Although, he always welcomed challenges. He thrived on the obstacles fate threw at him everyday, because life was dull without them. He was looking forward to meeting the future 'in-laws' already.
Earlier Richard and Clark had asked him who he was going to dine with, of course, they assumes thia person was a woman. Obviously Richard had forgot his preference, even though they dated for a while. As fond as Bruce was of Richard, he was too human for the armor-clad hero. Not meaning it in the bad way, but as good as Batman was, the creature wasn't invincible... far from it. Richard wasn't combat competent, his weakness might be the end of his own life and Bruce Wayne's hard-fought sense of sanity. Superman, on the other hand, was more capable of protecting his human lover, and Cyclops was more capable of taking care of himself even if Batman wasn't around.
To each his own. He made a toast with the thin air in his office.
-Westchester, New York, Xavier Mansion.
"You WHAT??!!" A high-pitch shriek tore through the entire place like an invisible hurricane made of tiny needles. Even Blackbolt would be impressed by its sheer destructive ability to one's eardrum.
Wincing involuntarily, Scott hurried to calm Jubilee down by putting his hand over her mouth. Well, I had hoped she would choose to faint instead of scream, guess I shouldn't be surprised that I didn't get what I wanted. "I'm going out to dinner with Bru...Mr. Wayne. I need you to inform others why I'm not home to join the dinner, and tell Bobby I'm (not really) sorry to miss his turn of kitchen duty. And keep it down please, none of us are deaf."
The teenager wrestled with her team leader's palm to speak up. "But, but, are you guys friends? I didn't even know you were close enough to eat out together!"
I didn't even know that myself until five minutes ago. All we ever did was almost rub each other off once! "We aren't really close friends, we're just...going to discuss some financial plans Bru...Mr. Wayne has for the school." Scott set his face into a neutral expression and spoke (he hoped) business-like, praying it was convincing and the kid could finally let him off the hook.
"And he can't talk to the Prof about it?" Jubilee said skeptically, being surprisingly sharp when Scott didn't want her to be.
"He...um, the Professor is busy so..." Ugh! He was always bad at glossing over facts! Where was Remy when you needed him? That guy could talk a trash can into believing it's a bottle of perfume! Oh, but even he couldn't help you out this time, remember, Summers? Not unless you're willing to let out your secrets to the Cajun...Not gonna happen, I'd sooner propose to Logan than spill my sex life to the cigarette-smelling swamp rat! Lebeau would just laugh himself to death anyway. "Look, it's just a dinner, no big deal, can you make sure others don't wait up for me when I don't show up at dinner?" He would have to contact the Professor personally. Emma was coming and it would be rude to stand them up without properly informing the headmaster of the school, though he was relieved about not going to be there. She always made him feel self-conscious, and Jean would always make weird noises - the threatening kind you heard on Discovery channel when they were airing the show of lions and lionesses, or to put it more simply, the kind Wolverine made on a daily basis, whenever the White Queen came near.
"Don't~worry, fearless! Have fun, okay? Besides, no one is gonna blame you for ditching Bobby's idea of a proper meal!" She gave her teacher a wink first, then pulled a disgusted face at her mention of tonight's menu. Showing some of her childlike charm with the gesture, "At lease now I've got something big to tell them about! And Oh! Can you get him to sign his photograph for me? Pretty please?"
"Huh?" Scott blinked at the request. He was sure the girl was even batting her eyelashes.
"Come on~ just one! I have a really nice picture of him from "Star" and now you're going to meet him in private surely it's not too much to ask?"
"Why would a magazine give out Bruce Wayne's pictures?"
"Duh! It's for the article: World's top ten Hunks. The BEST one in this century, though it was obviously mutant-biased cause five nominations out of the ten were CEOs and they left out Warren, but it had SUPERMAN as the first."
"World's...never mind, yes, I'll ask him to sign it for you." Boy, now he really was glad to have a son, he would never understand girls. Nathan would never come to him waving some surreal "World's top ten Hunks" article and its gift picture at him, T-O virus infected or not, time-traveler or not.
"Really? I know you're the best! Cyke! I swear I'll never dose off in the math classes again!"
"So you do snooze in class..." It was amazing how quick the girl's topic jumped from one to another. Scott was only glad that he wasn't usually the one who had to follow her logic, because it was obviously a pain in the ass.
"Huh? No! I just took a brief rest cause...You know what? I need to get the photo for you, I put it in my keepsake box..." Her words trailed off as she swiftly bounced up stairs to her room.
Scott released a sigh, then he squared his shoulders and pulled himself back together searching mentally for the bright spot on the far end of his consciousness, reaching out delicately like his mentor taught him several years ago, to touch, to connect...
*Yes, Scott, my dear child. What is it that you wish to speak with me?* Charles Xavier's kind voice flowed through their link, along with the warmth of his affection for his adoptive son.
*Professor...there's a change of plan I'd like to inform you...* Scott's hesitation was obvious, his field leader always felt guilty about having time for himself, or doing something for his own purpose. The sense of responsibility was one of the characteristics the telepath spotted in the gawky thin teenager to carry on his dreams, but more often than not, the boy would get caught in the middle of "me" and "others" and got lost himself. Charles sometimes felt he was responsible for so many things that happened to his beloved de facto son. Whatever he wanted, the old man would give him, as long as his child could find happiness. The break-up between his favorite children was heartbreaking for him, but that was Scott and Jean's choice. He had no say in the matter, but he could see Scott recover bit by bit with the love and support of their family by now- even if Jean was still unhappy.
*What is it?*
*Um...about tonight's meeting...I got an invitation from Mr. Wayne just a few minutes ago and he...I agreed to go out with him for dinner, so I'm afraid that I won't be there with you and Emma. I'm sorry for not discussing with you about my decision first.*
*Don't be, Scott. You have every right to spend your time with your friends and relax just like the rest of us. It's okay, Emma's alliance is almost talked through, and I'm sure Mr. Wayne can provide a better dinner than donuts and instant soup. Have fun, my son, Mr. Wayne is a remarkable man and I'm sure you can benefit from befriending him.* Inside, Charles was joyous, he didn't foresee Bruce Wayne's interests in becoming more involved with them. It wasn't just the X-men stuff, Wayne had a strong character, which would do Scott good for future character building. All in all, it was a pleasant surprise. That and Bobby's dinner plan really wasn't that temping. He himself chose to endure it for the White Queen's look when she saw what they'd have tonight. No one could complain telepaths didn't have a wicked sense of humor.
*I'm glad you accepted his invitation, go and enjoy yourself, Scott. I'll see you in the morning.*
*Thank you...father.* Scott's gratitude and love for the man who sheltered and gave him the purpose of life flowed right back through the link, and the old dreamer welcomed it.
*You're very welcome, goodbye, my son.* The link ended the telepathic conversation between two people who were miles apart warmly. This was a magic gift from a twisted gene.
"I found it! Cyke!" The stairs squeaked with the exciting footsteps thundering down on them.
Scott resigned his fate, walking to the bottom of stairs to wait for the inevitable burden of a picture, all the while wondering how he was going to ask the billionaire to sign it without making himself like a seventeen-year-old with a moviestar crush.
He was only looking forward to the food. Only for the food.