"Let us try this again, shall we?" Charles was all british pleasantry as he came to a stop in front of the still-hooded prisoner. The telepath reached out and let one hand slide underneath the damp fabric, finding the man's temple beneath a mess of sweat-drenched hair. The man tried to flinch away from the touch but Hank effortlessly held his head in place so his fidgeting wouldn't disturb the professor. The telepath once again launched himself into the mind of the man and found himself staring over the same ocean at before. This time Charles pushed on, out across the water, his entire effort focused on one word: SHIELD. The man gasped as the ocean started to stir and sway, random bits of memories and insignias flashing by on it's now boiling surface. With something tangible to search for it was much easier for Charles to break the barriers in place and he parted the waters like Moses, casually strolling between the towering waves as memories rapidly appeared and disappeared on them like giant cinema screens.
"... the CIA…"
"Fuck the CIA."
"Undersecretary Pierce, we must ask you to..."
"They fucking botchered Washington. We need more information…"
A dark office with heavy wooden panels was replaced by a briefing room populated with women and men in dark suits.
"...a highly sensitive field mission. Please remember that these are civilians we are dealing with. Cause minimal disruptions to their daily life. No one is to be hurt."
"But Director Carter, what if…"
"No what if's, agent. No one will be harmed. That is a director order."
"Yes, ma'm."
"Morales, Jackson, Stevensson, you three cover upstate New York..."
The image bled away and was replaced by the interior of a van. As a man climbed in the back Charles saw a flash of a familiar suburban neighborhood though the sliding door.
"That kid's definitely one of them." the man who climbed in the car said "His parents seemed real keen on giving him up to someone with a badge"
"Do we know what he does?" a woman with a low-cut top asked.
"Nothing destructive as far as we can tell." it was the man whose head Charles was invading who was speaking.
"Alright, me and Agent Morales will handle this. Keep the car running."
Some time passed in the blink of an eye, then the woman jumped into the car in a hurry, throwing a medicine bag in the backseat seemingly without concern for the delicate vials inside.
"Drive!"
"What happe…"
"Kid ran, just drive!"
Another time jump placed Charles inside a run-down apartment building.
"We have to call it in."
"No, we don't."
"The kid vanished!"
"Maybe that's a thing he does."
"Or maybe Jackson did something really fucking stupid and hurt... "
"We've got a job to do here and these people are dangerous! I don't know about you but I have family in Washington, I know what happened there."
"This isn't Magneto, this is some kid who've disappeared on our watch! We have to report it the director..."
"Quiet"
"What?"
"I just thought I felt…" The woman named Morales looked out the window, at the bar right across the parking lot "I'll be right back. Wait here."
Minutes passed in a second and then Peter was in the room, a flash of silver light against the suddenly busted door. Splinters was still soaring through the air as the agent took the shot.
"Dumb move, dingus" said a voice right behind him and the loud bang that ended the memory wasn't from another gunshot, but from his own head hitting the cheap linoleum floor.
The man called Stevensson sagged in his seat, breathing heavily as the telepath broke contact. It felt like he was dropped back into himself from someplace high above. It rattled his entire person.
"Rather jarring, I know" the professor's voice was unusually cold "You'll forgive me for not taking the extra measures to make this experience comfortable for you"
"How… did you…"
"It doesn't matter, Stevensson. There is only one question left for you to answer and if you don't I will drag the information out of you anyway." Charles didn't miss the appreciative look on Erik's face when he resorted to threats. "I would however rather avoid that for both our sakes, so please be smart about this. What do you need to report this to your Director?"
"What?"
"What do you need…" the professor was emphasising each meticulously pronounced word "to report everything, including your kidnapping, to your Director?"
The man seemed hesitant to answer, unsure of the consequences. However, his mental barrier had been more or less entirely broken, he would not be able to put up much of a fight should he choose to refuse.
"Why do you want me to…"
"What. Do you. Need."
"A phone. Just any phone"
"Excellent. Peter, would you..." A phone with an impressively stretched cord appeared in the professor's lap, the receiver already off the hook "Thank you. Now, outside, all of you."
Telepathically he added to all of them "I'll rather not for him to he see your faces".
Erik gave Charles a look that indicated he disagreed with whatever he was about to do, but he didn't argue. Neither did Peter, amazingly enough. Hank lingered a bit longer than needed but eventually ducked under the low door frame and disappeared out of sight.
Charles removed the man's hood, revealing a mess of black hair and a slightly flushed hairless face. Stevenson watched him varily as he wheeled around the chair to be able to unite one of the man's hands.
"I litterary know what you're thinking, and even if you could overpower me you have no way of getting passed what's outside that door" The professor started pulling at the ropes Hank has tied with considerable force "Please believe me when I tell you I would like this to end peacefully. Now, call it in."
"What do you want me to…"
"Just whatever you would when you report incidents such as these. I'm sure there is a protocol for it."
Stevensson started to slowly punch in numbers that Charles made a show of not looking at. Instead he leaned back in his chair and tried to muster an encouraging smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. After four dial tones someone picked up at the other end.
"Big Rico's Pizza, may I take your order?"
"Um, yeah, could I have a number 49 and one 11, please. With extra cheese on both." Stevensson eyed the professor, who was sitting close enough to hear every word of the conversation.
"Absolutely. Express delivery in 10!"
"Thank you" Then he hung up.
"I should have probably informed you that all phone lines in this building are completely untraceable" the professor smiled "CIA technology, slightly modified by a resident genius. So if you just called for backup…"
He was interrupted by a sharp BRIING as the phone rang.
"We have better tech than the CIA, sir."
"Erik, would you be so kind as to head outside and watch for possible helicopters? Thank you!"
"What did you do?" Erik said outloud to Hank and Peter, who exchanged confused looks as the master of magnetism stomped down the corridor towards the elevator.
"Agent Stevensson" the brittish accent on the other end of the phone sounded very annoyed "What the hell is going on? Your partners reported you MIA a couple of hours ago."
"We.. ran into some problems, Director. The subject we were surveying made our cover and fled. Jackson pursued but the subject vanished, ma'm."
"Minimal disruptions, Agent Stevensson! Was I unclear?"
"No, ma'am"
"Would you call a missing kid minimal, Agent?"
"I would not ma'am. I would have attempted to call in sooner, but I have been somewhat… kidnapped."
"Brilliant. And they're just letting you use the phone?"
"Yes, ma'am"
"Why?"
"I would suspect they want to talk to you." he shot Charles a glance who nodded.
"Who are they?" the woman asked.
"My name is Professor Charles Xavier, if that rings a bell" Charles told Stevenson, who relayed the message. There was nothing but silence from the phone for a couple of seconds, then:
"Put him on."
"Director Carter" Charles greeted as he took the phone from Stevensson "I believe we are in dire need of a chat."
"Release my agent, professor, and then we can talk"
"I ensure you that no harm will come to him under my roof. Do you know who I am?"
"Yes. I'm familiar with your work with the CIA."
"Then you have me at an advantage, I only know a bit about your work with SHIELD. Even so, what little I know has made me inclined to think I can trust you to be reasonable with our current predicament."
"What would you consider to be our current predicament, professor?"
"You're invading the privacy of mutant children and I have one of your agents. I would hope we could talk all of that out. Fancy a meetup?"
"I know what you can do, professor. I'm not about to put myself within the reach of your abilities"
"Charles." Eriks loudly thought warning came tinged with anger "Helicopter."
"Take out any weapons Erik, but nothing else."
"How about this, as a sign of good faith?" Charles told the director as he was instructing his friend "We will allow your helicopter to land and we'll hand agent Stevensson over to you unharmed. Then perhaps we could talk again tomorrow?"
"And why would you do that, professor?"
"I have no wish to go against the government, Director Crater, but I won't stand by and watch mutant children get hurt. It is my hope that rather than being enemies in this, we could come to some sort of mutually beneficial arrangement that doesn't involve invading the privacy of american civilians."
"I'll think it over when Agent Stevensson is returned to us." Director Carter responded after a moment of contemplative silence.
"That's all I ask. Well.." he added as an afterthought "That and that your people do not fire a shot while on my grounds."
"Erik, you should preferably not be seen. Let them land"
The master of magnetism stood on the front lawn, watching as the large chunk of metal came towards the house, hardly visible against the night sky.
"Whatisgoingon?" Peter appeared basically at the same time as the sound of his voice reached Magneto "What's that? A Lynx? Looks like a Lynx."
"This is what doing things Charles way looks like." Erik replied as the helicopter prepared to touch down at the edge of the school grounds "Armed men walking right up to your doorstep."
"It's also looking like no shooting, which, you know, is good. Speaking as someone who was shot at today. ARGH!" Peter jumped back, clutching his head "It's really creepy when you do that. You should like warn people… ok, fine."
Erik felt Peter grab him but before he could protest the world lurched under his feet and he was inside the mansion, grabbing on to the railing of the large staircase to steady himself. Before he even regained his footing Peter had gotten down into the basement, untied the prisoner, carried him back out and gently strapped him into one of the seats of the helicopter before the skids even touched the ground.
Charles and Hank was met by a furious Magneto as the elevator doors were hastily thrown open, their metal-hinges protesting the rough treatment. Hank growled instinctively when he saw the look on Eriks face.
"What did you just do?" A bright-red flush was creeping up his neck as he pulled Charles chair out of the elevator "You just gave away our only..."
"Don't yell at me, you'll break my concentration."
"You're still connected to him." As understanding dawned on him, Erik couldn't help but smile.
"The last thing I need is your misguided approval. Now hush. I'm not sure for how long I can do this without Cerebro. No, Erik, before you suggest it, I can't get into it with a mental link already established."
The trio stood silently in the large hall, two pairs of eyes intently watching Charles as he attempted to hold on to the other mans consciousness for a s long as possible. Turned out that the professor's mental reach was sturdier than Eriks patience. As the time dragged on, he started to pace around Charles, which earned him a hostile glare from Hank. Erik made a sharp nod at the door to the study, indicating that they could wheel Charles in there instead of hanging around in the foyer. Hank made a dismissive face that displaced his glasses on the tip of his nose. Annoyed, Erik added an even sharper shoulder shrug to his sharp nod to convince Hank of this line of action, to which Hank replied with scrunching up his face yet again. Erik squinted at Hank, using his best intimidating mutant revolutionist-face and the young doctor proceeded by pushing up his glasses using only a very suggestive finger.
"Oh for the love of God, just wheel me in there" Charles snapped at them.
Both the other men jumped at the sudden sound of his voice. Triumphantly, Erik tugged at the metal in Charles chair and moved towards the study, a sullen Hank in tow.
Forty minutes later Charles lowered his fingers from his temple and opened his eyes with a sigh.
"Well?"
"Let's just say we have a house call to make in the morning." Charles smiled at Erik in a way that was both exhausted and excited "Also, I noticed neither of you kept an eye on Peter."
"Shit" Hank and Erik muttered in unison, simultaneously looking around for the teen.
"What?" Peter leaned back in the formerly empty chair across the professors deck "I don't need looking after, I'm not a child. Also you guys are out of milk, butter, bread, some weird green goo that was in a tube, cheese and basically everything else. Might wanna run to the store before assaulting some vague yet menacing government agency tomorrow."
"Feet of the desk." Charles scolded and Peter complied "And we're not assaulting anyone. We're simply going to have a conversation."
"Uh-huh. My mom and her ex used to have 'conversations', and those usually ended with dishes flying across the room."
The professor changed the subject. "How's our guest?"
"Exhausted." Peter shrugged.
"I think that is true for all of us. We could all do with some rest, and I could do with some peace and quiet."
With that, he ushered the rest of them out of his study and closed the door behind them. His mind was reeling from holding on to someone else's for so long. He needed some time to sort out all the different impressions, and smother a headache in whiskey.
"So, I should probably head home." Peter said from where he was perched on the kitchen counter "You going to be ok here?"
Jasper nodded, too tired to risk the potential backlash a verbal confirmation might get him. If he was not going to be ok in this house, he would prefer not to know it. He had been terrified enough for one day.
"No safer place. Magneto isn't as scary as he seems. Right dude?"
"I only aim to invoke fear in those who should fear us." Erik replied from the window, where he stood watching the sky.
"So yeah, I was thinking. Not ripping that helicopter apart? That was very out of character for you."
"Do you ever shut up?"
"I'm just saying. It's kinda weird…"
Erik dismissed the teens concern with an annoyed wave of his hand.
"I know what you're implying Peter but your suspicions are misplaced. I know what it feels like when Charles is inside me."
"Okay. I'm pretty sure that didn't come out the way you intended it to."
"Go home, Peter!" Erik roared and Peter held up his hands defensively.
"Yeez, what are you, my dad?" He was gone before Magneto could reply something about rather being the father of a pack of rabid dogs than the teen in question. After a moment of uncomfortable silence Jasper silently left the kitchen and managed to find the one bedroom in the gigantic mansion Peter had prepared for him.
Authors Notes: Yes yes, I know. I did the tease thing again. Sorry.
