Standing by Her Boyfriend

After leaving the clinic, Sean had been gone for two nights and two days...

Vanessa hadn't gone to the bookstore. Instead, she sat behind Sean's desk at the clinic, her face full of worry.

Her boyfriend might not have been particularly reliable, but he had never disappeared without a word and failed to come back for two days.

From what Ava Ellis and Linda Carter had said, Sean had gone on a house call with Polaris, Lorna Dane, and had never returned.

His phone couldn't be reached either.

She had also contacted the Xavier Institute, but no one answered there either.

What she had learned indirectly was that the Xavier Institute had been sealed off. A special unit under the White House had arrested criminals who intended to assassinate the president, along with their accomplices.

Vanessa was terribly worried that Sean had been arrested with them.

She wasn't too worried about Sean's safety. She knew him too well; no matter what happened, his first priority would always be staying alive.

But knowing that was one thing. Being powerless to do anything was the reality now.

Meanwhile, Sean and Yuriko were walking toward the clinic. He wanted to make a call, but a vague unease kept him from making up his mind.

"Yuriko, what do you think I should do if my girlfriend gets mad?"

It was pointless to ask. Yuriko still hadn't regained her proper senses, so she wouldn't have any feelings about it. Come to think of it, the time limit on that state seemed to be gone~~~ Could it have become a permanent Buff?

If that was the case, it would be incredibly powerful! This Buff ability wasn't limited to Yuriko either!

Sean suddenly brightened. This Buff was no worse than Yuriko herself. He had definitely struck gold!

The moment Sean entered the clinic, Ava Ellis let out a shriek of "Boss!" and pounced on him. She moved so fast that he couldn't even dodge, and the sexy doctor threw herself straight into his arms~

Soft, with excellent bounce~

"Get off me~"

Sean had never been polite to female demons.

Ava released him resentfully and backed away two steps, shooting Sean a pair of aggrieved little looks.

Inside, she felt like she had been screwed over. Wasn't she just trying to suck up to her creditor? Had her performance been that bad?

Linda was quite happy too. They had spent a fair amount of time together, after all, and there was some affection between them.

She gave Sean a meaningful look.

Her big eyes plainly told him that someone was waiting for him in the office~

Sean's face lit up, then stiffened. He walked inside uncertainly.

Vanessa had just pretended to settle into her seat, crossing her legs with an annoyed expression.

Sean sidled up to her shamelessly. He figured the girl was putting on an act. Their relationship was great. If he had vanished for two days, Vanessa would definitely have worried about him. She was only acting like this because she couldn't swallow her pride and wanted to be a little tsundere.

That was all Sean's own imagination.

"Vanessa~ Vanessa~ I'm back~"

"Are you trying to soothe a child? Where did you go?"

"Ahem~ Don't even mention it. I tried to earn a house-call fee and nearly got myself killed. I was kidnapped all the way to Canada. I spent a whole day on the road before flying back from Seattle."

Sean deliberately made it sound as miserable as possible.

"Lorna came to get me to make a house call for Ororo, so I went..."

"Wait! Don't you never go to the school? Could it be that Lorna..."

"What are you thinking? The professor wasn't home!"

Sean immediately cut Vanessa off. If she kept going, he would become some villain forcing himself on a young girl!

"You dared go because Charles wasn't there? So you're afraid of Charles~"

Vanessa filed that away as an important note.

"Go on."

"After I healed Storm, they threw me into the underground maze beneath the Institute. By the time I found my way out, the Institute was under attack. Then I got captured~"

"You mean you surrendered, right~"

Vanessa hit the nail on the head, leaving Sean somewhat embarrassed.

"Staying alive comes first. What's so bad about surrendering? If I hadn't wanted to keep a low profile, I could have wiped out every last one of those invaders!"

Sean patted his chest, showing Vanessa how strong he was.

"Yeah, you're such a... 'survivor'~"

Tsk~ Why did that sound so weird?

"And then?"

"Then I made two more deals and escaped. Oh, right! It was all thanks to Yuriko Oyama. She helped me get out before the dam collapsed. Otherwise, you'd never see your boyfriend again!"

"I'd just get another one~"

"I... You're so heartless!"

Sean briefly described what had happened in Canada. When he explained his relationship with the X-Men, Vanessa frowned slightly.

She got along quite well with the X-Men, so why couldn't her oddball boyfriend get along with the people at the Institute?

"What about the children?"

"Most of them escaped. Only four or five were captured, and they've all been rescued."

Sean knew what Vanessa cared about and told her about the children.

"You definitely got mixed up with those bad guys~"

Vanessa pursed her lips. She knew Sean too well. He had absolutely sided with the people who attacked the Institute. Otherwise, how could he have made two deals?

"Ahem~ Don't make it sound so bad~ I infiltrated the enemy's ranks! Otherwise, how do you think the people at the Institute got out safely? Didn't you have a headache yesterday?"

Vanessa could no longer keep up the act. She stood up, took Sean's hands, and asked, "What happened?"

"William Stryker used some method to control the professor. He wanted to use the professor's power to kill every mutant. Luckily, I was clever enough to stop it all. Otherwise, who knows what would have happened!"

Vanessa burst out laughing. "You're amazing. You're incredibly impressive! Happy now?"

Sean sat down in the chair and pulled Vanessa into his lap. His girlfriend was rather tall, so having her sit in his lap didn't give him that delicate little-bird feeling.

Never mind. She was soft either way.

Grinning happily, he told Vanessa everything that had happened at the dam.

He didn't leave out the conflict with the people from the Xavier Institute either, telling her all of it.

Vanessa felt somewhat disappointed after hearing it, but she still stood on her boyfriend's side. The conflict between both parties had actually begun over Polaris's 1.7 billion debt.

The Institute hadn't understood the misunderstanding as well as they claimed. Sean's reputation at the Institute must have been pretty bad for things to develop this way.

Sean hadn't made any major mistakes in all this!

Vanessa's thinking was just that simple!

When he mentioned Yuriko Oyama, Vanessa glanced at Yuriko, who was still standing at the office doorway.

"Is that her?"

"Yes. A pitiful person controlled by Stryker."

"What are you planning to do with her?"

"She can drive~ I'm planning to make her my assistant!"

"She can drive?"

Vanessa froze for a moment. "You... can't drive?"

"..."

"Ava... can't drive either?"

"..."

"Ha ha ha ha~"

Vanessa laughed so hard she could barely stop. They had been together for so long, yet she had never known her boyfriend couldn't drive!

And his doctor's assistant... couldn't drive either!

No wonder they were always complaining that New York taxis were so hard to catch~ So that was why!