Ch10
Kurt humbled himself and approached Magneto as he stood motionlessly
half way up the staircase. "Mein Herr, I come to your home today not
merely to retrieve a young woman's scarf, but rather to make a small
child's Christmas vish come true. I am appealing to your sense of
kindness and good vill to zhose less fortunate; to help zhose who
must depend on the generosity of strangers because zhey are unable
to help zhem selves. So many have already pledged zheir assistance,
each contributing something to make a little girl's dream come true.
Vill you please say "yes" to your subordinates' request zo zhat I
can bring all zhe pieces of vhis miracle together and fulfill Gott's
plan."
By now, he was standing just a few steps below the man of magnetism,
making Magneto seem to be so much taller then Kurt. For a moment,
Magneto's face seemed to soften a bit, as he looked down at the blue
mutant's eyes. He calmly even compassionately reached out and put
his hand on Kurt's shoulder. "What's in for me?"
"Well you knew that was coming," Pyro commented under his breath.
"Why should I agree to this?" Magneto rudely mused. "It seems to me
that everyone will be profiting from this arrangement except me."
More than ever Kurt believed this had to be a great and magnificent,
though perhaps somewhat tedious test sent from the very throne room
of Heaven itself. At that exact moment in time Kurt couldn't tell if
he wanted to laugh or start screaming! "But, mein Herr, you vould
not be losing anything either." He calmly reminded Magneto.
"Hmmm, true," Magneto replied. He paused and thought for a moment,
thinking over the situation. Under normal conditions, telling
his "subordinates" to piss off would have been a breeze, but he
could not risk having Kurt going back to Mutant high and telling all
of the young potential recruits that Erik Lehnserr was a hard-ass to
work for.
"You say others have offered their assistance as well; am I then to
assume that you have promised all of them something in exchange for
their help?" Magneto began to scrutinize Kurt like a criminal
lawyer. Kurt quietly nodded his head and Magneto continued.
"Now I'm not trying to be difficult Night Crawler, but I had made
plans which require Sabretooth to accompany me as my body guard.
However, I do not wish to be the one to unravel this tapestry of
promises you have so brilliantly weaved. So…" he paused briefly for
a moment considering his next words. "If you can grant me something
that I would find valuable enough alter my plans, perhaps I could be
persuaded to let Sabretooth go away for, oh say a week or so."
Suddenly everyone in room brightened, or at least Sabretooth did, as
Magneto tried to think of something he would be willing give up for
his loyal attack dog. "Ah, I know;" he put his index finger to his
lips thinking over his moment of enlightenment as he finally settled
for something he both actually wanted and yet he knew would be a
challenge to acquire. "For some time now I've wanted a copy of
the "Commentarii di Caio Giulio Cesare" by Agostino Ortica. My
German is a bit rusty but in English that translates
to "Commentaries by…"
"Commentaries by Julius Caesar;" Kurt interrupted coolly. "I have
studied Latin for many years Herr Magneto." Magneto merely raised
his eyebrow in dull surprise.
"I see you took the time to educate yourself in something other than
walking the tight rope. I assure you Night Crawler, finding a copy
of this book will take much more effort. For a start, I insist on
having a copy that was printed in 1528 which undoubtedly will not be
easy to find. However…" Magneto's voice rang of arrogance. "I'm sure
it should be no great challenge for a miracle worker such as you."

Kurt returned to the X-mansion feeling utterly frazzled. He knew
that if push came to shove he could count on Bobby and Piotr to
fulfill their end of the bargain which would ensure Logan fulfilling
his. However it seemed so terribly wrong for them to be denied their
rewards. Kurt knew deep inside that if he were to pass this "test",
then he must see to it that all involved would receive payment for
their efforts. But where on Earth was he going to find a rare
sixteenth century book on such a short deadline? As desperately as
he wanted to solve the problem tonight, the answer would have to
present itself tomorrow.
Kurt slowly walked inside to find most everyone had gone to bed. It
had been a long a grueling day and as Kurt walked up the stairs, the
only thing he could think of was crawling into bed and starting it
all over again tomorrow.