Chapter 06

Conflicts

Scott and Kurt were sitting in a coffee shop on the first floor near the mall's doors as they both sipped on their iced tea. Derek left for a few minutes to a payphone near the coffee shop to call someone to clear up the misunderstanding when they saw the news report saying that he was missing. Kurt was laughing on a copy of a collection of his favorite comic strip in book form he bought a few minutes ago as Scott remained silent and twirling the straw around his iced tea. Jean was right about how I approach Rogue in a way were the words that kept circling his mind. But how could he actually express his feelings in a way without compromising his relationship with Jean? Though he is no longer in high school, the same kind of trouble with relationships never seem to go away regardless of how much he has matured physically.

Scott recalls the time when he and Rogue spent their holidays back in the institute with Hank McCoy and Professor Xavier, long before he found out that his brother Alex was alive and living with his foster parents in Hawaii. Somehow the memories were quite profound when they heard rumors of angel sightings spread all over Bayville like a forest fire and they went out to investigate at their own initiative. In one way it was kind of like a date as they toured the mall as part of their investigation, checking out music stores and browsing through the shelves in a bookstore. It was indeed fun and probably the only time he had ever spent the day with Rogue until they find themselves in the middle of the situation where they actually found the 'angel' they were looking for. And after a brief encounter with Magneto and a girl nearly freezing to death when she fell into the Hudson, they managed to get the identity of this mysterious angel, in which he calls himself as Angel, the multi-millionaire Warren Worthington III.

Scott never told Jean about the 'date' and he wondered why he never did. If he never saw Jean as someone more than just a friend, maybe he could have confided himself with Rogue yet that is one matter that proves a challenge.

At the twentieth floor of a ritzy hotel in Manhattan, a lone man was reading some papers in a brown folder as he sat on the plush single sofa near the windows overlooking the city. A picture of Derek Vane was attached to a paperclip at the front page. He has been staring at the photo for the last hour, allowing the image to burn deeply into his mind. Ever since he received the call from an anonymous client living somewhere in New York, he was told about a discreet Swiss bank account of one hundred thousand dollars with his name on it in exchange for his services. Not wanting to be jilted, he called up that particular bank that very evening and gave the secret code. They confirmed the account and all he needs is the PIN number. Convinced, he took the next flight to the United States after an hour.

The first part of the job was a simple kidnap operation and the details were written at the last page. If his employer's theory is correct, he may be able to save himself the trouble of having to fight someone who could absorb mutant powers, almost like fighting his own self only ten times more deadlier. He never thought of himself as a mutant, though his incredible aiming skills could rival the best-known snipers either human or computer controlled anywhere in the world. Indeed he was the assassin of assassins.

He dropped the folder on the round, glass-topped table and walked towards the bathroom. Turning on the taps, he collected his cupped hands with cold water and splashed it over his face. Without reaching for the hand towel he faces the mirror, staring at his bald, shiny head and his mustache and beard trimmed at the sides to look rectangular and dripping with water. A scar-like symbol showed prominently on his forehead as he unconsciously stares at it. It was shaped with two circles where the smaller circle is inside the larger circle and two lines crossed laterally in the middle of the smallest circle almost like the crosshairs of a sniper rifle's scope. As he stares at his own eyes, his hands begins to burn with the most wicked, bloodthirsty grip that tingles his fingers.

In another coffee shop located on the third floor of the Bayville Mall, Jean, Kitty and Rogue sat around the small table sipping on lattés. Jean and Kitty were discussing about last night's fashion show and trying to keep the atmosphere as cheery as possible. Rogue, however, kept her usual look of disinterest that slowly turns to annoyance, wondering why they were discussing about last night aside from helping her. She could only count the seconds pass away and her eyes drifted in a trance-like state. As each minute passed, her mind slowly slips back to the memory of having to touch Derek's hand, thinking that she has forgotten the feel of another person's warmth. The strange soft feeling that sparks with static electricity as it gently caresses itself on her hand continues to linger that it annoyed her so much to the point that she wanted to feel more of it. The only thing is that hand's owner happens to be the egotistical Derek Vane and that was the sort of person that Rogue despises the most.

Rogue blinked a few times the moment her eyes focused on Jean and Kitty's eyes when they switched their discussion towards her.

"Well, what do you think of this whole Derek business?" Kitty smirked as she took a sip of her decaffeinated latté.

"What about it?"

"Come on, Rogue." Kitty flashed a sly smile towards her and drew her head near Rogue's. "Somewhere within your mind and heart that you have a thing for Derek." She quipped in a singsong manner.

Her blood starts to boil at the very mention of his name as she glared at Kitty. Jean forced herself to turn her head away to hide her sniggering.

"Listen, you two," Rogue snapped, "the only reason I'm here is that I needed to get away from that guy." Then she lowered her voice to a near whisper. "I don't care if my powers somehow has no effect on him but that doesn't give him an excuse to grope and kiss my hand like he owns me."

It was very thing that both Jean and Kitty were waiting for as the two let out a short yelp that caught Rogue by surprise.

"I knew it! We never mentioned anything about Derek kissing your hand yet something tells me you wanted more of that. Probably somewhere in particular around the face?" Kitty cheered then she puckered her lips at Rogue for a kiss as Jean finally giggled.

The last ounce of patience that Rogue mustered has finally left her. She jumped out of the chair and stood up glaring at them. Jean and Kitty sat stunned at Rogue and probably regretting teasing her. Without saying anything, Rogue stormed out towards the exit when someone else was standing in the way. Not knowing how much a coincidence or maybe a cruel irony this situation managed to put her through, Derek Vane smiled at Rogue.

"I'm glad to see you here of all places." Derek said and gave a curt bow.

Jean and Kitty also saw Derek and approached the two, thinking why would Scott and Kurt leave him alone like that? They were burned out from the recent fit of frustration they got from Rogue when an idea began forming in Kitty's head and whispering to Jean to just play along.

"Well, now that we found Rogue we thought that we should join Logan and head off somewhere as well. What do you think?"

Jean was caught off guard as she looked at Kitty, who was now eyeing her to agree. Stumbling a bit, she said: "Well… yeah! That's right! You're here and Derek's here. You might as well get acquainted since he's gonna be staying at the institute for a couple of days."

The two waved at Rogue and Derek and left the café. As an afterthought, Kitty turned around and shouted "Have fun and take your time!"

Rogue felt her blood slowly starting to freeze and thinking what to do next as Derek smiled at the two.

Back at the main floor, Scott and Kurt stood outside the coffee shop and wondering where Derek could be. It was dangerous for Derek to be alone without Scott and the others. Visual confirmation proved difficult due to all the crowd activity until his sights caught towards a woman also heading towards them with long white hair and wearing her casual clothes.

"Scott, Kurt, where is Derek?" Storm asked as she looks around.

"He said that he needed to call up a family member or something so he went to a payphone right over there." Scott pointed his thumb towards the three occupied phone booths. "But then I realized that he disappeared when he took his time."

Storm slowly shook her head and placed her fingers over her forehead and groaned when Jean and Kitty appeared through the crowd.

"Oh, Derek and Rogue?" Kitty answered when Storm asked where they were. "They're probably hanging out somewhere together."

Kurt finally paid attention when he lowered the book down. "Really? Those two are on a date?"

It was not exactly the kind of idea that Scott had in mind when the insides of his chest started to twitch as he fought to check his temper. Digging his hands into his left pocket, Scott pulled out the car keys and gave them to Storm.

"I'll stay behind and keep an eye on those two in case something goes wrong." Scott said before blending in back to the crowd.