Chapter 05

Schemes

The inside of a dark, windowless room is lit only with the flickering images of the monitor as a man towered in front of it. The morning edition news reporter stood next to the remains of the entrance of a popular disco club and the fissure in the middle of the road now roped off with long plastic strips that says POLICE LINE. DO NOT CROSS. This was his second time to watch the news about the incident since last night.

"This was the aftermath of the attack at a popular disco located in 37th and Madison: a ten-foot deep trench about twelve feet in width and fifteen feet in length aside from the ruined entrance of the club itself that started some time between nine and nine-twenty PM last evening. The attack was also the result of the power outage that spanned more than three blocks along Madison Road.

"Witnesses described that a group of mutants attacked this popular Manhattan disco club that held a fashion show hosted by Derek Vane, the owner and designer of the popular Vanity line of apparel clothing stores for young people. And during the attack, they claimed seeing something coming out from the disco and the locals described it as a 'monster' or 'alien being' of sorts with various destructive powers. So far, the famed designer is still considered missing after police arrived at the scene ten minutes after the attack ended. Here on the subject is the controversial writer of mutant rights, Mr. Stan Lee to discuss…"

The news program disappeared with a soft click, followed by the bright lights flooding the room with its fluorescence. Magneto stood silently within the confines of his own lair as he continued to stare at the monitor. His helmet and cape were left hanging on the rack, allowing more free movement as he walked towards the other end of the room.

Last night's encounter was something he never expected, yet it was also part of his mental checklist that would consider to happen once he tried to catch Derek Vane and his unknown powers. The last thing that occurred to him is that Derek also possessed a power similar to Rogue's, minus the part where he had to touch any part of a mutant's exposed skin. Thinking if there are other ways in trying to sway Derek into joining his cause, Magneto walked back near the monitor. Five feet from the screen is a small table and a small communicator device was placed on top. He knew that Professor Xavier has Vane under his care and he must have unlocked some secrets concerning Vane's mysterious mutant power. After pondering for the first two hours on the mystery since he and his men retreated last night, he has made a call to someone thousands of miles out of the country and by now has arrived so he could set his plans to capturing Vane into action.

For the last thirty minutes, Scott Summers stood near the door of his room with his back pressed against the wall and tapping his foot reflexively on the hardwood floor to keep his irritation from boiling over. Since the professor requested Scott to lend him some decent clothes to help search for Rogue, Scott was the only man whose clothes were on Derek's size. He called Derek again through the closed door, reminding him that time is wasting as Derek only said okay in response. Another five minutes have elapse until Jean, Kitty and Kurt, the other members of the search party, accompanied Scott as they waited near his door.

"What taking him so long?" Scott grumbled as he grits his teeth. "As if he'll find a pair of leather pants for him to wear or something."

"Don't be silly, Scott." Jean smiled as she nearly suppressed a giggle. "He is, after all, a designer and former model. I think he's trying to find a perfect combination from all your clothes. I would say he'll be doing you a favor by learning from him."

Jean moved her sights around Scott and checking out what he was wearing. As always he wore his usual drab blue sweatshirt, khakis pants and a pair of fashionable hiking shoes.

"As long as he doesn't pull every shirt or pants out of the closet and trying them all on then I'll keep my cool. Man, he dresses up as long as a girl would take on a prom night."

Jean shot Scott a disapproving look when the door flew open as everyone moved three feet in front of the way. Everyone in the institute knew the contents of Scott's wardrobe even though they never actually seen it as Derek emerged. They were all nodding in approval at the improvement he has done in his mix-and-match style: The royal blue shirt with the hem tucked in the khakis showed much of his well-toned figure and the striped mint green sweater was wrapped around his upper shoulders by the sleeves. Wearing Scott's brown dress shoes, the transformation was complete as they also noticed his long hair now braided in to make it look shorter.

"How did you braid it like that?" Jean asked as she approached Derek, admiring the way his hair being done.

"Well, I suddenly sensed that there's a telepath nearby so instead of just doing up my hair the hard way, I thought of braiding it in using your powers." Derek gave Jean his signature grin and missing Scott's glare. "Scott's wardrobe was quite a challenge so I went for the classic look. What do you think?"

It was indeed an achievement on how Derek has efficiently used every piece of clothing at his disposal as the rest of the girls in the mansion standing near the hallway have been swooning over him. Some of them were carrying autograph books in hopes that they could get his signature. Scott could only scowl at him as he entered his room and froze on his feet. His room looked like it was hit by a tornado when he finds that everything in his wardrobe is littered all over the bed and floor.

"He is so DEAD." Scott fumed as the eyes behind his ruby quartz shades begin to glow with deadly energy when he turned to face Derek.

"Oh, and sorry about your room, Scott. I promise to fix it up as soon as we find Rogue." Derek said as he turned his head slightly at him while signing Amara's autograph book.

After signing his tenth autograph, Derek was pulled away from the crowd by Jean while Scott, Kurt and Kitty followed them to the garage. Logan was leaning against the side of the X-Van and has finished warming up the engines almost twenty minutes ago. Derek's crowd of admirers continue to shove autograph books towards him until Logan cuts them off and ordering them to return in the mansion.

"What took you so long?" Logan eyed everyone as he folded his arms across his chest.

"It was my fault, I guess." Derek drawled nonchalantly before noticing a tiny piece of lint on the left shoulder of the sweater and flicking it off with his index finger.

Logan slowly shook his head, wishing that he could just ground Derek just like any of the kids in the institute if only he was a student. Then he ordered everyone in the van and Logan drove off.

The trip to the Bayville Shopping Mall only took ten minutes and the traffic was considerably light as Logan parked the van in the parking area some fifty feet from the mall. Everyone stepped out in the open and Derek was the last to emerge, wearing a red baseball cap belonging to Scott that was left behind in the van some time ago. Despite of Derek's protestations that the hat will look inappropriate for the clothes he was wearing, Logan cuts him off and telling him that it was for his own protection as they all shuffled into the entrance of the mall.

The weekend crowd was always twice as many than the usual school week. They all gathered near the entrance doors once they went inside and Logan instructed them to stick together for now so that Derek could share Jean's power of telepathy, making it easier to locate Rogue's mental signature. The five-story mall sat in a three thousand, five hundred square feet of commercial space and almost half of the population of Bayville occupied all the floors.

"You two pick up anything yet?" Logan asked as he kept a firm eye and nose at his surroundings.

"I could almost feel her mind but she keeps moving around." Jean spoke vaguely as she closed her eyes.

Logan redirected his sights to Derek, who shook his head slowly. "I'm not sure how to use my mental powers. I mean, I've never done anything like this before aside from braiding my hair."

"Okay." Logan lets out an exasperated sigh. "If you could feed off my powers then maybe we could both sniff her out. Do you think you could do that?"

"I think I could. For some reason it'll take a while." Derek nodded slowly, followed by a tiny smile creasing the side of his lips. "Yet I never forget the scent of a…"

"Okay, people." Logan clapped his hand once, cutting in on Derek to catch the attention of the group. "The rest of you spread out while me and Bones here search for her. We'll contact you once we find her." Derek shot Logan an annoyed look, offended by being called Bones.

The group separated in pairs: Kitty and Kurt, Scott and Jean, and headed to different directions. High above the fifth floor stood Rogue watching from the metal railings. Her eyes were totally fixed towards Derek as she shot him a hard stare.

At the third floor, Scott and Jean walked slowly past the stalls of different clothing shops as they peered through the display glass. Though Jean took her responsibility seriously, she could not help but look at the window display of every shop they pass by. It has been a couple of days since she and Scott went out together like this even though they attended the same university.

"You know, Scott," Jean spoke as they walked, "for a charming guy like yourself you seem pretty dense when it comes to noticing girls who may have feelings for you."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Scott asked as he shifts his eyes towards her.

"Don't you remember a couple months back when my powers went out of control and it was you and Rogue who saved me?"

Scott nodded.

"Do you know that Rogue might have a thing for you since even before?"

The disclosure caught Scott off guard that he nearly tripped over his own feet. Jean shook her head as she stopped near the balcony of the third floor.

"You really think?" Scott muttered.

Jean smirked as she gently shoves Scott towards the side and strides off towards the balcony railing. He momentarily joins her at the balcony, watching the crowd of people below.

"Well, it's not that I'm jealous or anything. After all we're both dating. It's just that once in a while you should try to show that you care about Rogue not just as another teammate, but also as a woman."

"I do that. I mean it's just like having a younger sister. And that also includes Kitty and Amara and…"

Jean shook her head without facing Scott. The look in her eyes turned serious.

"You're missing the point, Scott. For once have you thought of Rogue even as a woman? Have you ever made her feel that she is special? And don't give me a reason about her powers."

Scott lolled his head over his neck, his eyes now looking straight though the crowd and the levels of floors below them.

"I don't know why, really. I just don't want to be insensitive and all. Sure, Rogue is charming in her own way and in some ways I look at her more than just a friend."

His voice faded suddenly when something sprang from his thoughts. As Jean lowered her head searching for Scott's eyes, he shook his head and pushed himself away from the balcony.

"I'm sorry. I don't think I have the answer for that." Scott sighed as he ran his fingers though his brown hair.

Maybe he was thinking about the part concerning Rogue's powers, as Jean would think without resorting to probe his mind with her powers. As they both remained silent for five minutes, Jean's cellphone rang to life and dug her hands in her purse. She pulled the cellphone out and pressed the 'connect' button on the keypad.

"Jean, Logan here. We found Rogue but I don't think we could get to her."

"Where is she?" Jean answered.

"In the women's restroom on the fifth floor. It seems that she's been there for the last fifteen minutes."

Three minutes later, Kitty and Kurt were the last pair to arrive after Logan called four minutes ago. They all gathered near the entrance of the small hallway leading to the men and women's restrooms.

"Well," Jean said as she looks at the three men, "I guess our search is over. I suggest you guys go somewhere around and relax. It's girl talk right now."

"You kids could do without me." Logan said flatly as he hands the keys to the van over to Scott. "I'll send Storm over as soon as she's available and watch your step." Logan warned, reminding them that Magneto would probably be after Derek even as they speak before melting into the crowd.

"Scott?" Jean said as she raised her eyebrow.

"We'll be at a coffee shop or something." Scott answered as the three left as well.

Jean and Kitty entered the women's restroom and scanned the area. About five women stood in front of the ten by six foot mirror reapplying their makeup and the some of the stalls were occupied. Trying not to draw any attention to themselves, Jean discreetly called on Rogue as Kitty occupied an empty stall, locks the door and phased in through the wall so that she could search at the other occupied stalls from behind. After a few seconds, Kitty flushed the toilet in her stall so that others would think she used it and approached Jean, pointing at the last stall.

"Rogue? Are you in there? It's me, Jean. And Kitty's with me as well." Jean called as the two approached the last stall.

Jean and Kitty waited for two minutes until Rogue's voice came through.

"What do you want?" Rogue's voice shot through the door.

"I was thinking that we should go somewhere not too crowded and talk about what happened this morning." Jean said.

"I don't think there's anything to talk about." Rogue scoffed.

"Come on, Rogue. Be reasonable." Kitty joined in. "We just want to help you that's all."

Rogue remained quiet for a minute as Jean and Kitty waited near her stall.

"Is Derek outside waiting?" Rogue asked in a soft voice.

"No. Scott and Kurt took Derek for a tour around the mall. So will you come out?"

The sound of the door's lock clicked and the door opened slightly. They both peeked inside as Rogue sat on the toilet seat with the cover closed and her arms wrapped around her legs.