"Its just up here" Reed told us leading the way down the street, i was walking along side John holding his hand.
"Your father runs an antique store?... Thought he was a scientist" John said looking at Reed.
"He took it over when he retired. He's big on living in the past.....That's it" he pointed to a store that was painted a dark red, it had some potted plants out the front next to the door.
"Lets get this done" i said moving them along. Reed led the way in, John held the door open for me to go in next.... he checked our surroundings before following me inside. I could hear a music box playing as i walked in which stopped pretty suddenly, Reed had come to a stop in front of me and the older man stood behind the counter was staring at Reed like he'd seen a ghost.
"Reed" he said simply with wide eyes.
"Hello"
"I never thought I'd see you again"
"Well, I'm here. We need to talk" Reed said getting straight to business.
"You should have called. I would have told you not to waste your time" he said turning the shop sign to 'closed'.
"Who is this?" Reeds father asked looking towards John and I.
"My name's John Proudstar, Thunderbird" John told him proudly.
"Ah, Thunderbird. Very heroic"
I chuckled slightly at his comment, John looked a bit uncomfortable by it though.
"Hi Mr Strucker, I'm Hayley" i told him smiling.
"Nice to meet you..... call me Otto. So your Mrs Thunderbird?"
"Technically i guess" i shrugged looking at John and he blushed.
"John & Hayley are with the Mutant Underground. They've been helping my family" Reed explained.
"Is that so? The men from Sentinel Services came by. They seemed to think they were a terrorist organisation"
"We're not terrorists, sir" John said quickly defending the underground.
"No, no. Of course not. Freedom fighters, I'm sure"
"We're not here to have a political debate" Reed said shaking his head at his father, Otto just sighed at his comment "Did you hear what happened?"
"At the school?....Yes. They told me about it when they interrogated me"
"What'd you tell them?" John asked crossing his arms all business like.
"That I never met my grandchildren and haven't spoken to my son in years. In other words, the truth"
"We need to talk to you about your work at Trask"
"My work at Trask was classified"
"I'm your son!"
"Son or not, it's a crime to reveal classified intelligence. It's also a crime to harbor a fugitive. I assume they covered this in law school"
"My kids are being hunted by Sentinel Services!"
"This has nothing to do with me. I have nothing to say" Otto said getting worked up, i couldn't believe he wouldn't help us.
"You said for years that Trask was just a defense contractor"
"Trask no longer exists. I don't have any...."
"It opened up again!" Reed shouted cutting Otto off from what he was saying "And they are doing anti-mutant research. Now, you worked there for 30 years......And it just turns out that your grandchildren happen to be mutants.
Do you expect me to believe that that's a coincidence?"
"They're experimenting on mutants Otto" i told him in a more friendly tone to what Reed was using.
"My own best friend was turned, somehow. He's working for Sentinel Services" John added.
"Dad I need you" Reed said in a pleading tone, Otto nodded finally agreeing to help.
"Come. Upstairs"
Reed turned to look at us, John nodded giving him the okay "It's alright. Go, we'll stay here and keep watch".
Once Reed and his dad went upstairs i turned to John and smiled "ain't you glad you don't have to deal with family drama? I sure am!"
"Yeah!" He scoffed "besides, we have enough drama to deal with already".
"Never a dull moment eh?"
"Not lately, its not always like this, they seem to have upped their game since you and Lorna escaped.... like they have something prove"
"They don't like that we got away from them" i said casually as i walked around the shop looking at some of the old items laying on the shelves. John was stood by the window keeping watch, he turned to look at me quickly and when i looked at him he just gave me a smile.
"What?" I asked him not knowing why he was smiling at me.
"Nothing" he shook his head still smiling and turned to look back out the window.
"Okayyyy your being weird" i said rolling my eyes at him.
"Shit!" He said suddenly, he went on full alert moving away from the window.
"Cars approaching fast, we need to go!" He said grabbing my hand and leading the way upstairs to get Reed.
"Reed! There's cars outside. I think it's Sentinel Services" he said quickly rushing to the window, we stood looking out..... it was definitely Sentinel Services!
"The mutant down there, that's my friend, the one they turned. He can suppress powers" John told Otto.
"Is there another way out of here?" I asked praying he would say there was a secret staircase to safety!
"Only the stairs" he replied shaking his head.
"No, we can't fight our way out, not with Pulse down there. They can cut me down same as you" John said, he hated being vulnerable like the rest if us.
"I'll go down" Otto said walking towards the door, Reed actually looked scared for his father "You can't!"
"I have to. Maybe I can do something. I told you, our family is different. I'm sorry, Reed......For everything. Tell your mother, will you? Take care of Lauren and Andy. Protect them, son. Protect the world from them". He said before he quickly rushed out and headed downstairs.
"What did he mean?" I asked Reed, i was so confused right now.
"I'll explain everything later, lets just try and get out of here alive".
