Thanks to MirrorFlower and DarkWind for reviewing. Nice to know that at least one person is enjoying it! On with the fun!


Monks and Strip Clubs

There was nothing more to be learned from the tattoo artist, so they cautiously left the place, venturing back out onto the street. They only thing they could do now was continue to piece together what had happened the night before and hope it would lead to Bobby.

However, nothing could be gleaned from anyone, and Charles cursed his inability to use his telepathy. They decided to regroup at the hotel. "Did you search the roof?" asked Charles desperately.

"No," admitted Erik. He carried his friend up the stairs and sat him down at the top, while he searched, but came up with nothing.

The metal manipulator stood with his head bowed, his expression foreignly one of defeat. Charles sat on the stairs with his head in his hands, trying to ease his horrible head pain. "I hate to say this, my friend, but we're screwed." Bangkok was a huge place, and without their powers or any leads, how would they find Bobby?

Erik made no response. They were really beyond words at this point.

Charles's cell phone rang. Grimacing at what he saw on the caller id, he answered it, unusually dejected sounding. "Professor Xavier here," he announced.

"Charles? What's going on? Why haven't you called to be picked up? Is Bobby coming?"

"Hank, it's happening again," Charles said.

"Oh no...I knew I shouldn't have left you with Magneto!"

"We don't know what happened, but, we're screwed. We're in Bangkok, Thailand, and Bobby is nowhere to be seen."

"Thailand?"

"Yes, Thailand. Don't ask me how we got here, I have no idea. Hank, is there any way you can use your computer and see if you can find any trace of what happened to us, and more importantly, Bobby?"

"Yes, I'll see what I can do," promised Hank. "I'll call the moment I find something."

"And Hank? Why are you fine? Didn't you drink that beer too?"

"Yes, I drank it."

"Don't you have a headache?"

"No, I'm normal. Why, do you?"

"Yes, it is the worst headache ever, I can't use my telepathy, and Erik is having trouble manipulating metal."

"Are you going to be okay?" asked Hank. "Do you want me to get the Blackbird and take you home?" He hated to think of the crippled professor powerless in the hands of Magneto, in the middle of Bangkok, no less.

"No, no, I'm sure Bobby is here somewhere, we have to find him first. Just see what you can find out, please, Hank."

"All right. By the way...have you heard the news?"

"What news?" asked Charles, confused. "I haven't had time to check on any news, I've been too busy trying to find Bobby."

"Air Force One completely disappeared yesterday."

"What? Did someone kidnap the president?" asked Charles in alarm.

"No, no...that's what's weird about it. Nobody was kidnapped or even hurt. The last thing anyone remembers was the security cameras spontaneously being destroyed. Then they all blacked out, and woke up a few hours later. The only thing missing was the airplane. Nobody remembers detecting it on the radar. It's like it disappeared into thin air."

"That is all very interesting Hank...do you believe that mutants were involved?"

Erik turned towards him then, interested.

"Yes," said Hank. "Charles...I hacked into the CIA. They have Emma Frost. She was found outside a wrecked gate, unconscious. She's in a coma, and they don't think she's going to come out of it. They think it's from some kind of psychic shock. So the official word is terrorists, but the CIA people are looking for mutants."

"I'll investigate it how I can," said Charles, suspicions running rampant in his mind. "Please investigate Bobby and let me know immediately if you find something."

"Ok, professor."

No sooner had Hank hung up, when Charles's phone rang again, interrupting his plans to confront Erik about Emma. His heart sank as he realized it was the Drakes. "It's the Drakes, Erik, what am I going to say to them?"

Erik yanked the phone from Charles's hands. "I'll handle it," he said. "Erik Lehnsherr speaking," he said, as he took the call. "Yes, everything is fine...we just decided to take a little road trip. Fishing. No, I'm afraid Bobby isn't up to speaking right now...he's a little...seasick. No, no, he'll be okay... Yes, we'll have him back in time for him to go to school. Don't worry about it...I need to go now, yes, check back in later. Bye."

"Erik!"

Erik cut him off, sensing a lecture. "Can it, Charles. We'll find him, and they'll be none the wiser. It's better this way, trust me."

Charles did not agree with lying to Bobby's parents, but did not argue. He had more pressing concerns to present to Erik. "When were you going to tell me that your team stole Air Force One yesterday?"

Erik looked very surprised, but Charles wasn't sure he bought it. "What? It was stolen? Why do you think I'm behind it?"

"Emma Frost was found just outside a damaged gate near it, unconscious. She is now in a coma. Hank says they don't think she'll come out of it."

Erik stared at him, his expression not changing when he heard the news. He had no love for Emma, but she was on his team, and he didn't want to lose her. "Where is she?"

"The CIA has her."

Erik quietly processed this. There was nothing he could do for her right now. He would have to remove her as soon as he could, though, so they wouldn't be able to experiment on her. The less information the government had on mutants, the better. But that would have to wait until after they found Bobby. He couldn't contact Azazel without the device in his helmet, anyway, and that was nowhere to be seen either.

"Why did you have your team steal Air Force One?" Charles was a little miffed. The airplane had been the star in many of his childhood fantasies and he didn't appreciate someone taking and probably destroying it.

"I didn't! I have no idea why Emma was there, she was supposed to be in Europe," admitted Erik, annoyed. If she'd just followed his orders, maybe she wouldn't have gone and got herself in a coma. But, maybe she had a good reason. Maybe she had found a powerful mutant, and was fighting him or something. But, why would she fight to stop Air Force One being taken? In his mind, it was good riddance. He didn't think she would care either. It didn't make sense. "I don't know who would do this. It doesn't make sense. There must be someone else out there we don't know about."

"We'll talk about this later," said Charles, unaware of how much he made it sound like they were an old married couple. He didn't want to believe that it hadn't been Erik's fault, but Erik had no reason to lie. As if he had enough to worry about right now, it was possible there was a powerful mutant running amok that was further damaging the relations between mutants and humans. He would have his work cut out for him when he got back to the mansion.

A few minutes later, Hank called back. "I found him, professor!"

"You did? That's wonderful Hank, you're a lifesaver!"

"He's in jail. I have the address. It isn't for anything major, in fact you could probably pick him up right now and they'd let him go." Charles took the address and thanked Hank profusely before hanging up.

Charles beamed at Erik. "Erik, Hank found Bobby! He's in a jail, not too far from here!"

Erik took the address, then carried Charles back down to his wheelchair and pushed him down the street towards the jail.

When they arrived, Erik let Charles do the talking while he stood around, doing his best to look intimidating (which wasn't hard). Before long, another man was wheeled out in a wheelchair who they claimed to be Bobby.

"But, this isn't right!" Erik spoke up finally, in frustration. "Bobby is much younger, and he can walk!"

"He has his id," the cop explained, bored. He held out a wallet.

Erik took Bobby's wallet, which indeed had the id. "Look at this!" he insisted, pointing at the picture. "Does this look anything like him?"

"We are very busy here, especially after what happened last night, and do not have time to check everything. As far as we are concerned, this is Bobby and we are releasing him to you. As for as anyone else, if you haven't found them, Bangkok has them."

Then, they were left with the silent, elderly man. After trying to ask him questions, they figured out that he was a Buddhist monk who had taken a vow of silence.

"Why do people keep saying that? Bangkok has him?" wondered Charles, his mind going back to what the cop had said. He sure didn't like the sound of that. He brought up the pictures from the tattoo artist on his phone, and indeed, now that he was looking for him, he could see the monk in a few of the pictures. So, he knew more about what happened!

Erik wanted to start questioning the man right away, but knew doing it at a police station wasn't the wisest idea, especially if he had to resort to his favorite methods. So they would have to wait until they returned him to the monastery. He eyed the two wheelchairs. He obviously could not push them both at the same time. He was feeling a little better though, enough to use his power a little. His thoughts drifted again to the goth outfit. Somehow, he had made Charles dance last night. In that case, it wouldn't be beyond him to make him walk.

"Charles. I can't push two wheelchairs."

"I know, I'm sorry - I can just try to wheel myself - "

"No, you're not going to wheel yourself. You're going to put the metal outfit on."

"I'm not putting on that metal monstrosity! Erik, it's okay, I'll manage - "

"No. No offense Charles, but we do not have time to wait around for your wheelchair fumbling when who knows what is happening with Bobby! You will put the outfit on, and you will walk."

Charles gave him a stubborn look, but conceded the point. They needed to find Bobby and it would be faster if they didn't have to wait around for another wheelchair.

So, once again, they returned to the hotel (Charles wheeling himself) and Charles changed into the metal goth outfit. Erik practiced a minute with him. He just felt okay enough to support Charles's weight with his mind, but that was all. Anything more was beyond him right now. Charles, however, still had an enormous headache and couldn't use his telepathy at all.

So, the three of them left the hotel in silent agreement to return the monk to the monastery, where they would hopefully be able to get more answers. Charles felt very odd, almost like he was floating. Although he could see his feet connecting with the ground, he couldn't feel it. The sensation triggered a brief memory - lights, screaming, cheering, dancing and spinning - and the telepath grabbed onto it eagerly, only for it to slip through his fingers.

Damn.

The unlikely trio arrived at the Buddhist monastery. Charles wished he could control his own movement, so he could look around a bit, but submitted to Erik's relentless focus on the task at hand without comment. Erik brought them all to a stop by a group of monks who appeared to be meditating.

"Excuse me, we are returning your monk to you, and we were wondering - "Charles started.

A monk surged up immediately, carrying a pole. He came within a foot of hitting Charles with it when it 'mysteriously' stopped in mid-air.

Metal pole, then.

Charles glanced over at Erik, who was glaring so coldly at the man who was still trying to hit him with the pole, that Charles was sure that if he'd had Bobby's power the man would be an instant ice statue.

At his full strength, Erik would have beaten the crap out of the man with the pole, who had dared to attack Charles. As it was, Erik could barely hold it together enough to keep both Charles and the pole still. He eyed the necklace around the man's neck. Maybe, he could just manage a small squeeze...

Charles saw the necklace start to move. "Erik, please, I'm sure it's just a misunderstanding, no need to escalate things - we need answers -"

In response, the man tried even harder to get the pole out of its invisible grip to beat the crap out of Charles.

"He's trying to hurt you, Charles - that's all the understanding I need!" Erik growled in frustration. It was like the Cuban Missile Crisis all over again - him holding danger at bay, trying to turn it around and eliminate the threat, while Charles wanted to talk to the threat, and get along!

Charles, despite his disagreement over Erik's attitude, couldn't help but feel a warm glow at Erik's protective words. "Thank you, my friend - I think I remember now, though - we need to stop talking. I think it's tradition. They might let us talk somewhere else."

Their eyes met, and Erik nodded dubiously. When they had been silent for a minute, the man with the pole gave up and let go of it. Erik let it drop none too gently by his feet.

True to Charles's realization, they filed out to a different area, wheelchair monk in tow. As Erik manipulated him to their destination, Charles stroked the monkey, who was still on his shoulder. He actually was growing a bit attached to it, to be honest.

They arrived at a small building, and the monk who seemed to be in charge spoke to them and asked what they wanted. Charles cut in before Erik could open his mouth, certain that whatever Erik planned on saying would be hostile. "We were wondering if there was any way we could get him" he gestured towards the wheelchair bound monk "to talk about what happened last night. We really need to know. Our friend Bobby is missing and we're afraid he might be in trouble."

Unfortunately, the monk absolutely refused to speak because of his vow of silence. Charles, seeing Erik's increasing frustration (and impending violence) over this, attempted to read the monk's mind. He got a few brief flashes of something - meeting them by the tattoo place, then parting ways at a strip club - before the pain overwhelmed him to the point that he had to stop. If Erik hadn't been holding him up, he would have collapsed from it. As it was, he felt the metal outfit tighten on him as he sagged in the hold, closing his eyes and breathing labored, waited for the pain to pass.

Erik, seeing Charles's pain, seemed to come to a decision. "If your little disciple here doesn't talk, I'm going to - "

"Erik," Charles croaked out. "Erik, there is no need - I remember his part in this." Charles gasped at the new pain speaking brought. It wasn't strictly true - he didn't know everything - but he knew enough to know that the monk could do no more to help them find Bobby. They would have to go to the strip club.

"Count yourself lucky Charles was here," Erik said, unable to resist a parting threat. "There are some lines I'm not afraid to cross."

The pair left quickly. Charles directed him to a strip club, which he explained they had apparently gone to the night before with Bobby. That was when they had parted company with the monk, who had been arrested shortly thereafter for reasons unknown.

They entered the club, and again Charles took charge. The exchange with the monk had triggered the memory of a name - Kimmy. He remembered some sort of intense interaction with her, although he could not remember if it had been good or bad.

"Kimmy?" the man, who called himself Samir, said. "Kimmy...she should be around here somewhere, her shift starts soon...Tabby! Get Kimmy over here!" He turned and smiled at them. "Come back for more, gents? I'm really quite surprised...the way you two were acting last night, and that whole finger incident and all with that ice pal of yours, I really didn't think I'd be seeing you again."

"This is where Bobby lost his finger?" Erik leaned in towards Samir, intent.

"Yes, don't you remember? He was doing this weird icicle trick with his hands - best magic trick I ever saw, well, beyond yours of course - and you were somehow getting a knife, without touching it, to chop off the icicles as they appeared to grow from his hands - and you weren't too steady with the knife there, and accidentally got his finger one time. Kid didn't seem too bothered though, immediately packed it with ice and continued on. You left shortly after. But really, that was just a side event compared to what you two were up to with Kimmy! Why, we haven't had such a scene in here for a long time!"

Erik and Charles's gazes met, trepidation in them. What had happened?