During the week after their awful stay at O'Toole's Academy, the Xavier students were very subdued. The under students wondered what had happened, but no one was really willing to talk about it. The Professor began to take impromptu naps all over the mansion, and Elizabeth did the same thing. More than once she was found curled up in an armchair or on a sofa, oblivious to the world.
No one would have minded if that had been all, but there were still some students who were missing their powers. Kurt and Kitty seemed rather lost during practice without their abilities to teleport or phase. Kurt kept on having to walk up and downstairs, along hallways, and through doors, and it seemed he couldn't get used to it. Kitty was having the same trouble. More than once she walked into walls.
Elizabeth wouldn't say more than a word at a time, and she didn't do much besides nap. Beast often would take her temperature, but she said that she wasn't sick, just tired.
The doorbell rang very late one night, and it was Logan who answered it. He dropped into a defensive crouch and looked ready to attack, but the man on the front stairs held up a hand to forestall him.
"It is all right, Wolverine," Magneto said. "I have to talk to Charles."
Wolverine stared at him. "What do you want to talk to him about?" he snarled, making his claws come out.
Magneto glared. "That's no one's business but mine or Charles'. Now, are you going to let me see him or not?"
Wolverine looked at him, as if considering it.
"Let him in, Logan," the Professor said, wheeling his way into the room. "I need to talk to him anyway."
"All right, Chuck. But I'm tellin' ya, I don't like it."
The Professor and Magneto went to his office, where they faced one another across the Professor's desk.
"I suppose you know what it is I want to talk about," Magneto said, by way of preamble.
"I have a good idea," the Professor replied. "O'Toole?"
Magneto nodded. "Indeed. I feel that he is a threat to all mutants. He is able to steal powers--he is able to take them permanently. What sort of vicissitudes will this have for all of us?"
"It could be a blessing to some, Erik," Charles put in quietly. "Some mutants wish to not have powers, or to have never had them at all."
Magneto nodded. "I know what you mean, Charles, but think--if he takes the powers of countless mutants, how powerful will he grow? Once he has this power, what is to stop him from enslaving the rest of the world? He doesn't ask or offer to take your powers, does he? No, he steals them. Do you realize that I can barely make a dime shift on a table, when before I was able to do almost anything? I couldn't stop him, none of my team can stop him, and I doubt your students can. He is dangerous, Charles. We can't let him grow in power, but we must stop him now while we have the chance."
"He's right, Professor," a very quiet voice said.
Both men turned and saw Elizabeth standing in the door, still looking like a wan little ghost.
"I saw into his mind through yours, Professor," she said, coming forward and plopping onto the couch. "He plans to be the ruler of mutants, and he wishes to have the humans as members of a subclass. Pretty fancy words for slaves," she muttered. "If a mutant pledges his loyalty, he gets to keep his powers. If not, then he takes his powers and he becomes a member of the subclass."
"And you're telling us this now?" Magneto demanded.
Elizabeth glared at him. "Yes, now," she said angrily. "I've just now become sure of it. When I saw into his mind, everything was a jumble, and I've managed to put the pieces together just today."
"When did you see into his mind, Elizabeth?" the Professor asked, motioning for Magneto to be silent.
"Just as we were leaving, Professor," she said. "I was 'looking' you over, to make sure you were all right. He left some of his thoughts in your mind, and that was where I found them. It's taken me a while to tell what they were. Right now, he's gathering powers for his takeover. Do you remember that 'something else' you were going to tell us? That was what it was."
Magneto looked thoughtful. "Elizabeth, can you imagine our powers back?" he asked. "Or imagine a weakness for us to use against Dr. O'Toole? Or. . .something?"
Both men looked at her while she studied her slippered toes. To the Professor, she seemed very young and vulnerable, sitting there in her nightgown and slippers. She looked more like a little girl than a young woman.
"I think I can do. . .something," she said. "But I don't know what, yet. We have a while to think about it."
"How long a while?" Magneto persisted.
"Maybe a week or two," she said, still examining her slippers. They had been a gift from Hank, and they were fluffy and pink. "I'll let you know if I've thought of anything by tomorrow, all right? I have to go get some more rest."
With that, she left.
Magneto sighed once she was gone. "Are you as worried as I am?"
The Professor didn't have to answer.