When Charles woke up and heard the news of an odd attack on a prison, with the walls ripped apart and metal torn as if it were paper, he remembered how he and Erik had gotten Alex out of jail. He could only imagine who Erik broke out, now that they no longer had the government behind either of them. Little did Charles know, Erik had nothing to do with it.
~x~
The brotherhood sat in the kitchen, having an awkward and silent breakfast consisting of Emma and Magneto standing closer than usual. Azazel and Riptide almost seemed relaxed. Emma could tell they thought she was a slut, that she slept with all her bosses. But that's all it was, she and Erik had just slept together. They didn't do anything more than kiss and…well, Emma couldn't resist. The man was seriously all muscle and he was actually the age he looked. But it was nothing more than a little bit of touching. Erik was hardly that comfortable with her. She placed her hand on his shoulder while they sat eating, an uncharacteristically casual breakfast with them all gathered at the table. She knew there wasn't anything deep about their relationship, but this was new to her. She thought the small touches from Shaw (brushing her hair back, kissing her cheek, resting a hand her shoulder) were comforting touches, but with Erik, it was heartfelt as well. She'd melted the ice in him and he did the same for her. Emma laughed at herself. She couldn't remember ever being so…openly happy. Yet it wasn't love. They were friends. With benefits. At this she audibly laughed. Erik glanced at her, a small smirk on his lips. "What?"
He wasn't wearing the helmet anymore and that got rid of the telepathic void Emma (and Charles) found nerve wrecking. Erik was glad to be rid of the tin can and have the weight off of him, literally. She quickly relayed the thought to him and, he laughed also. He unintentionally related the easy laughter to another moment. She saw in his mind: a gun, a track suit Erik hated because he matched the other kids, a satellite, a memory. The pain seeped in and they both cringed, then looked at each other. Erik was glad to have a friend with him, as surprising as it was that Emma had a good side in her.
Emma laughed at his thoughts. 'All telepaths grow up hearing the thoughts of those around them. I'd imagine you either grow to be extremely compassionate or hate everyone around you.'
Emma's eyes went wide. "Speaking of which…" She cringed. Someone was in her head. This wasn't Charles. Even Charles wasn't powerful enough to reach her here. Wherever here was. He hasn't rebuilt Cerebro yet. This telepath formed a web between many other telepaths, but Emma and Charles, familiar with each other, quickly found each other.
'Charles, what is this?'
She could almost hear him shake his head. 'I don't know but this can't be safe. She's providing a very large threat. Help me. See what you can get about her. All I can see is that she's young, maybe 17, and angry. Very, very angry.'
Erik watched Emma, not hearing the conversations between her and Charles. After a few seconds of silence, he couldn't take it. "Emma, what's wrong?"
Charles' focus shrank back for a second as Emma accidentally relayed what she heard to Charles. She glanced at Erik. 'Charles…you like him.' It wasn't a question and Charles didn't answer.
'Where is she, where is she…oh. It was her at the prison! What was the name…J…Jean!' Then, as suddenly as it started, the connected ceased.
Emma remained silent, thinking through both the situation with the girl and the situation between these two men. Erik was on the edge of his seat. "…Emma?"
She wanted to ask him more about Charles, but not in front of the others. "A young girl, a telepath. She just created a network of sorts between telepaths. It was hard to tell how many there were, but I spoke to Charles."
Erik's face paled a little. He didn't ask how as she had expected he would. Instead, he spoke to her in her mind. 'Is he well?' He quickly covered up what could've been silence with a Leader-of-the-Brotherhood sounding response. "Did he know the girl?" Magneto chastised himself for reacting in the wrong order of importance.
'He seems very well. He got much more information than I did, but he shared.' Emma mirrored Erik's façade, giving no clue of the mental conversation. "She's young, maybe 17. Jean. She was caught up in some sort of prison accident about an hour ago. She's extremely powerful. Charles mistook the wreckage she caused as your doing, Magneto. She's telepathic and telekinetic, but most importantly: angry."
Magneto smiled, putting aside all thoughts of the first telepath of the three he now knew. "Just my type."
