A/N: Chapter 3 has arrived. I really have nothing else to ramble on about right now, so enjoy!

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Professor Xavier was having dinner in a nice restaurant in downtown Bayville when his cell phone started ringing. He kept it in a small compartment on the arm of his wheelchair, so it didn't take him long to answer it.

"Hello?"

"Provezzor, thiz iz Kurt. Zomething's happened at ze mansion."

Xavier could immediately tell something was very wrong. Kurt always had a strong accent, but it was emphasized now. When he got excited, Kurt's accent usually tended to take over.

"Calm down, Kurt. What's wrong."

"There's been a…" Kurt suddenly stopped and the Professor could hear a strange voice in the background, but he couldn't make out the words.

"Kurt? There's been a what?"

Kurt finally began talking again after a moment, now even more excitedly than before.

"A murder at ze manchin. It'z Duncan Mattewz! He'z been killed an' ze police zink Zcott did it!"

Xavier didn't ask Kurt to repeat it. He didn't need to. Kurt's voice was enough for Xavier to be able to focus on his mind and read his thoughts to make sure he had heard everything right.

"I'll be there as soon as possible Kurt. Just hold on."

"Hurry, Provezzor!"

"Hold on, Kurt." Xavier hung up and put the phone away quickly.

"I'm sorry, Hank. There's an emergency at home."

"Is it major?" asked Hank McCoy as he took a sip from his glass of water.

Xavier was already signaling for the bill and moving his napkin from his lap.

"I'm afraid so."

"You need any help?"

"No. You go on home. You have a long drive anyway."

"Charles, if I can help at all…"

"No," interrupted Xavier. "No, I would rather the students not know that you are anything more than a new teacher when you come to Bayville next semester. Go on home, Hank."

"All right. If you say so." He extended his hand to the man who had served as a mentor to him during his youth. "Thanks for meeting me, Charles. I suppose I'll be seeing you soon."

Xavier took his hand and shook it heartily. "Thank you for dinner. And remember what I said about that serum of yours."

Hank smiled and raised one hand as if brushing the thought away. "Don't worry, Charles. Everything is under control."

*****

By the time Xavier made it to the mansion, the body had already been taken to the morgue. A few cops still lingered in the kitchen obtaining every last bit of evidence they could. Most of the remaining policemen were scanning the grounds for the murder weapon.

Xavier immediately found his students, then asked them to lead him to whoever was in charge of the investigation. They obligingly led him to Lt. Varley, who had asked them a few questions earlier. As they looked for Varley, Xavier took careful notice of how each student was acting. As he watched, he gently listened to their thoughts. He wasn't prying, of course. He was careful not to delve past the outer surface of each of their minds. He just needed to know how his students were handling the situation.

Everyone was clearly looking to Kurt for leadership, but Xavier could tell that Kurt was every bit as scared as the rest of the X-Men. Kitty was horrified by the events of the night. She was still in utter shock despite the fact that it had been 30 to 40 minutes since she'd first seen the body. Evan was uncomfortable, but intrigued at the same time. His mind was more focused on the policemen around him and the idea of being on a murder scene than it was on the eventual consequences of the night's events. Rogue was unusually quiet. The idea of a murder in her house had clearly rattled her composure. But at the same time, she was worried about Scott. Perhaps more so than any of the other X-Men, Rogue seemed to understand what this could mean. There was a deep fear that Xavier could sense inside her, but to find its source would mean digging through her thoughts much deeper than he was willing to go without consent.

Xavier expected to find Jean a total wreck. To his surprise, though, she seemed okay. He could tell that it hadn't quite hit her what had happened, but for now she seemed strong. She was worried, no doubt. But her composure was holding up. She wasn't crying alone in the corner, though Xavier wouldn't blame her if she did. After all, the boy she had been dating for a year had just been murdered in her house by the boy that she had a crush on. Xavier stopped himself. Allegedly by the boy she had a crush on. At any rate, Xavier was the only person in the world who knew what Jean's true feelings for Scott were. There were times that he wasn't sure even Jean knew! It wasn't that he had probed her mind. He simply had much in common with Jean. She was like a daughter to him and she viewed him as a father. They had a close bond and Xavier could simply tell what she felt without having to probe her mind for answers.

It was this bond that had kept Xavier's frustration from boiling over during his talk with Jean that afternoon. When Xavier had returned from his wasted efforts with Darkholme, Jean had told him about her troubles with Duncan. He knew that this was the cause of that afternoon's fight between Scott and Duncan. At the time, she was already worried about the ongoing feud between the two boys growing to a climax as a result of her carelessness. Xavier had reassured her and told her not to worry about it. What was done was done. He had promised that he would find a way to deal with the new problem. In fact, he had already devised a solution to the problem. He had been planning on swiping Duncan's memory the next day. Now it seemed he would never get the chance.

Finally, the X-Men found Lt. Varley inside the kitchen, where the murder had taken place. The students refused to enter the room, leaving Xavier alone as he pushed through the wooden door. Varley was talking to the officer in charge of the search for the gun when Xavier rolled up behind him.

"Excuse me, Lieutenant."

Varley turned around, slightly surprised by the voice. "Yes? Oh! Hi. I assume you're Charles Xavier?"

"I am. I was hoping you could tell me what's going on here."

"Of course. We got a call from your house earlier tonight about a murder. When our officers arrived, they found one of your students, Scott Summers, trying to move the dead body out of the house. He was arrested on the spot and taken to the central station for questioning. I've got two detectives talking to him right now."

Xavier looked around the room as he listened to Varley. Blood stained the floor and three bullet holes were visible next to the pools of blood. He returned his gaze to Varley when the Lieutenant finished speaking.

"How did this happen?"

"Well," said Varley rather awkwardly, "the truth is we don't know yet. I'm still waiting to hear back from the detectives so I don't know what Summers is tellin' 'em."

"How long until you're out of my house?" asked Xavier. He had a feeling his students knew more about what was going on than Varley did.

"We'll be outta here in a couple hours, but we'll be sending a few officers over sometime tomorrow. I know it's an inconvenience, but this is a crime scene. We need to make sure we get all the evidence we can."

"I understand. Thank you, Lieutenant."

Varley nodded and shook Xavier's hand. "Thank you. I'll let you know what's going on when I find out."

Xavier nodded back and turned around to find the X-Men. He left the kitchen after one final look around and then traveled down the hallway to the elevator. He finally found the kids on the second floor in the den near the bedrooms.

"How are you all doing?" he asked as he rolled into the room.

The kids all turned and looked at the Professor quietly. Kurt was the first to speak.

"I zink ve're all ztill in zhock."

"That's understandable," said Xavier. "I was wondering what all of you knew though. Can you tell me what happened tonight?"

Slowly, the X-Men began telling the Professor about the night. They told him how the Brotherhood had attacked the school and how they had gone to stop them. They told how Scott had refused to go with them. Then they told the story of how they returned home to find police everywhere and Scott getting arrested. Xavier listened silently and absorbed the story from them, trying to make sense of it all.

"I see," said the Professor when they were done. "Well, if anyone asks where all of you were tonight, tell them that you went out for dinner without Scott. We'll find out exactly what happened as soon as we can. I want to talk with each of you in this room first thing in the morning. In the meantime, I think we all need to get as much sleep as possible. I'll try to get the police out of the mansion as soon as I can, but I don't know how effective I'll be." He looked at the group of worried teenagers and took a deep breath. "Good night to all of you. I'll see you first thing in the morning."

"Where should we say we went to eat?" asked Evan. If they claimed to have gone to dinner, they would have to all be able to claim the same restaurant.

The Professor thought for a moment. "Lazzari's Italian Cafe," he finally said.

The X-Men nodded and slowly stood to go to bed without another word. There was simply nothing to say. Their minds were still spinning from the night's developments.

Xavier turned around and left the room. He crossed the hall and picked up the telephone, then grabbed the phone book and started looking up the number for Ororo's sister.