Emma was extremely cautious as she crossed the roof and peered in through Mildred Watts' skylight. She wore a white ninja suit, complete with mask and gloves.
She watched him replacing his files in a desk drawer and then lock it.
When he stood up and began crossing the room she couldn't believe her luck.
He's leaving! She realized with an excited start.
And indeed, he locked the door behind him and stepped outside, his keys in hand.
She pried the edge of the skylight free and propped it open before casting a glance inside. She then tied off the end of a rope and dropped the rest of the coil inside.
She slid down to the floor and examined the lock briefly before nodding. Ahhh. Perfect! She thought.
And then she whipped out a crowbar and broke the drawer wide open. She grabbed all the Excalibur folders and, unbeknownst to her, one more as well.
She shoved them roughly in to her bag and slung it over her shoulder before looking around the room.
She jumped the couch and broke open a display cabinet, then removed several expensive pieces of sculpture. She rounded off the scene by smashing open a glass cabinet and relieving it of two small gold Egyptian artifacts.
"Mildred! What are you doing in there?" Came a voice from the next room.
What? Emma turned quickly and dove for the rope, her treasures in tow.
She surprised herself at how the adrenaline moved her up the rope, but once at the top, she couldn't help herself. She peered down over the edge.
A small gray-headed old woman opened the connecting door between the rooms. "Mildred?" She asked.
Emma couldn't believe her eyes. The resemblance was unmistakable.
"Oh, my!" The woman replied, clutching her robe closed.
Dear lord. He lives with his mother! She shivered and turned quickly before she could be seen and darted towards the adjacent roof. She crossed a small personal catapult (The kind they use for stuntmen in movies). As she stepped on it she triggered it and allowed it to throw her to the next building.
She landed in a practiced roll and very quickly she moved to the edge of the building and a small thin piece of twine that ran back to the other roof and pulled.
The catapult jumped with the twine and she quickly reeled it in before making her escape in to the building.
She took the back stairs to her car and slipped in to the back.
"Drive" She said to the man at the wheel.
And then…
She hit his mind with a jolt. You will forget we were here. You will not see the files. You will believe I am back here… With a man. And you will leave us alone.
The driver giggled.
He checked his mirror and giggled again.
"Oh, grow up." Emma smiled slyly, although she knew that from the driver's point of view it probably seemed mean. Then she slammed the privacy screen between the two compartments in the limo and shook her head. Simple creatures.
The driver giggled again.
Although the privacy screen was dark, you could still make out shapes from the other side. No doubt he had quite a fantasy unfolding and she was relieved.
She drew out the files and began to read.
But that wasn't the only skullduggery afoot.
Back in Bayville a shadowy figure moved undetected through Xavier's mansion.
She slipped down the hall away from the medlab and out the back doors where she broke in to a run across the grounds.
Hank turned to discover the medlab refrigerator door standing ajar.
"Oh dear." He said, approaching slowly. I hope the blood hasn't gone… bad? And much to his astonishment as he opened the door, one of the bags they keep on hand in case a student needs a transfusion – was missing.
Quickly he surveyed what was still there and by process of elimination he deduced…
Rogue… Someone's taken the blood we've banked from Rogue… This could be very, very bad.
In another quarter of the house a draft shifted and Logan sat bolt upright.
He sprung in to action and tore through the house, terrifying anyone in his way as he followed the scent.
He stopped at the open doors and he saw a shadowy figure disappear in to the distant tree line.
"What is it?" Bobby asked, racing to Logan's side.
Logan growled, low and guttural. "Mystique." He turned to Bobby. "Go tell Xavier." And then he bounded out of the mansion and crossed the lawn at a breakneck speed.
Mystique had a huge lead as she slipped out of the woods.
She met the man at his car. "What?" She asked. "I was supposed to meet you in town!"
"Get in." He said in a thick English accent.
She jumped in and the man peeled out, putting a great deal more distance between her and Logan's pursuit.
"Did you get it?" He asked.
She handed him the bag of blood.
"Now." She demanded. "Tell me why you wanted it."
"I thought for sure you'd ask for your money first." He handed her a stack of bills and she snatched them away.
"Now." She repeated, shoving the bills in to her blouse. "Tell me why you…"
But that was as far as she got before he zapped her with his stun gun, reached over and opened her door, forcing her out on to the road.
"Because that's all you're going to get." He smiled.
Mystique hit the road hard, without any way to brace herself, and rolled toward the bushes at the side of the road.
Slowly she forced herself to get up, bleeding, scraped and seething in anger.
"You're welcome." She whispered distastefully. "You bastard."
The man looked down at the bag of blood in his lap.
"Very soon Rogue… You're going to help me a great deal. Like you helped yourself to all those people over the years… Like you helped Apocalypse when he rose… And now… You'll help me have my revenge…"
He drew his cell phone out of the glove compartment and dialed the airport.
"Yes." He told them. "I have an open ended return ticket to England. I'd like to leave as soon as possible."
He paused. "Yes. I can be there in under an hour. Book me please. My ticket number is…" He fished it out of his pocket. "Eight, fourteen, twenty seven, twenty two."
"Thank you Mr. Williams. You're booked on flight 117 to London. Seat G 12."
"Thank you." He hung up the phone.
He eyed the blood lovingly. "And thank you as well." He told it.
"Next stop…Home." He decided softly. "And then … Infinite power."