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Glaring Decipher

Chapter Three

The following Thursday, Magneto stood in front of his class again. Now, Mr. Summers and Miss Grey were among his students. A small victory, he considered. He had had both of them for the past half and hour prior to his usual class time to get them caught up on what they had missed the first session.

And now, all of his students were sitting and waiting to start the class.

"Are there any questions about the material we covered last time?" Magneto asked. Now one raised their hands. It was understandable. Most of his students were still a bit afraid of him and no one wanted to be the first to admit they needed something explained again. He watched Rogue elbow Nightcralwer as she tired to make eye contact with the boy, but he just shook his head quickly. Magneto watched her roll her eyes with a little smirk on her lip before she raised her hand. "Yes, Rogue?" he asked.

"Last time you explained the understanding of the competitive environment through the use of battles from World War two. Most of us in the room don't remember World War two. Even with histories lessons and movies were been exposed to throughout our lives, it's a little hard for some of us to visual that. Would you mind explaining that concept again, maybe by using a battle we've fought in the past? I know everyone's trying to politely pretend those never happened," Rogue said and he couldn't help but chuckle. "But those type of situations are the one's we're gonna find ourselves in the future, not necessary against you, but it'll help us if we start to think strategically in terms of those situations," Rogue said.

"I couldn't agree more," Magneto said, "but rather than drawing from the past, let's utilize a hypothetical. Let's say the X-Men have became aware of an anti-mutant militia base located somewhere in the Midwest," Magneto said. "Using the fundamentals of the competitive environment we discussed last class, what do you believe should be the first step to handling this situation?" he asked to the whole class. No one answered. The class was still far too nervous as a whole: but there was a silver lining. "Rogue?" he asked as he made eye contact with her again.

"Stalk the base for at least a week to determine the threat level," Rogue answered easily.

"Very good," Magneto said as he broke eye contact and turned his back to the class looking instead at the wall. 'Must be a coincidence. She couldn't possible know,' he thought to himself. "I don't believe stalk is quite the word I'd use," he added.

"Yeah, your right. Reconnaissance would be more appropriate. Stalking is more personal: you're singling out an individual to determine their threat level, not observing a whole organization," Rogue added. "Like Christmas last year," Rogue said as Magneto's eye widened.

"Excuse me?" he asked as he turned to face her.

"When you were in New York to recruit Warren. You don't just approach any mutant on the planet, there's a decent amount of us now. You must have, to some degree, stalked him, before you decided he was worth your time," Rogue said. There were a few eyes widened by her comment. Miss. Pride, who was seated next to Rogue, looked as though she was getting ready to phrase her out of the room. Nearly everyone was concerned that Rogue had crossed a line. Except for Rogue, it seemed. She just kept his gaze, that same undefined look there.

"My dear, I believe there's a reason, as you put it, that we are politely pretending that the past never happened," Magneto pointed out.

"Where's the fun in that?" Rogue asked with a little smirk.

"Stay after class again, please. We'll continue this conversation, then," Magneto said, before he could stop himself, with a bit more force than he should have. If she was calling him out on his past transgression, if she even knew of his past transgression, then he was the one at fault, not her.

"Okay, I get it. Try and talk about who you may or may not have stalked the last week of December two-thousand and one and you'll get testy. Message received, loud and clear," she said bitterly as she continued to meet his gaze.

"Is there anything you would like to ask me?" Magneto asked.

"Is there anything you'd like to admit to?" she asked pointedly as his eyes widened.

"Hallway. Now. Please," Magneto said as pleasantly as he could muster. She stood up and he followed her out of the room. He closed the door behind them as she turned to look at him. Her eyes where narrowed with anger and there was no doubt in his mind now: she had to know. "Are you uncomfortable with me living here?" he asked her.

"No, I wanna be friends with you. But the creepy stalker bullshit needs to stop," she said strongly. "How long were standing behind that fern Tuesday night?" she asked.

"A few minutes, it wasn't very long," he answered quietly.

"Any amount of time is too long," she said strongly. "After you were done stalking me you came over and asked me why I was there and I gave you an honest answer. I don't mind talking to you, I like talking to you. I wanna be friends," she said again. "But being stalked by someone with your capabilities is terrifying. Even for a few minutes. Especially for a whole week," she said. "It needs to stop, you need to stop," she said as she placed her hand on his arm. "Please," she said as she attempted to make eye contact. "Please stop," she begged: her eyes glassy with emotion. He held her gaze for a long moment.

"Of course," he said as he broke eye contact: he walked a few feet away from her: turning his back to her. "You have my apologizes for frightening you that night… and the week after you absorbed me," he said.

"And?" he heard her ask strongly.

"And the week after the situation with the rebirth machine," he added.

"And?" she asked again.

"A few nights scattered here and there," he admitted. He turned back to look at her. "Watching you became a bad habit of mine. I didn't know you were aware of it," he said as she opened her mouth to comment. "I know," he said strongly keeping her from saying anything, "that it does not improve the matter any, but I honestly did not intend to frighten you the way I obviously have. For that you have my deepest apology," he said.

"Well, now you know, I knew the whole time," she said. "I'm not saying you have ta leave me alone completely. But you can't use that tactic anymore. It's not reliable anyway. You've learned more about my capabilities in the last three day than you did over two years with stalking. Why would you want to keep using a strategy that doesn't work?" she asked.

"Because I enjoy watching you," Magneto answered darkly. He heard he let out a little sigh.

"I know," Rogue said. "But it needs to stop," she said again.

"It will- at least I'll make sure you are always aware we're in the same room," he added.

"I can live with that," Rogue said.

"Do you want to get Charles involved?" he asked after a moment.

"No," she said quickly. "I have my reasons," she added.

"So, this will stay between us then," he said. She nodded. "Alright," he said before he looked back at the classroom door.

"We should head back in," Rogue said.

"What explanation should we give?" he asked: mostly to himself.

"Who says we need to give one?" Rogue said before she walked up to the door. He raised an eyebrow at that as she turned back to look at him: her hand grabbing hold of the door knob. "You coming?" she asked. He nodded before she opened the door. He followed her back into the room. He watched her retake her seat as he resumed his spot at the front of the classroom.

"Back to our hypothetical situation," Magneto said. "Performing reconnaissance is understanding the competitive environment. Through that act, you would be gaining the knowledge that you would need to develop your strategy. Any action taken to obtain information that can be later be used to develop a strategy is building an understanding of the competitive environment. Any questions?" he asked. No one raised their hands.

"Alright," he started to say as he picked up the marker. "What are the difference between strategies and tactics?" he asked as he wrote "strategies" and "tactics" side by side at the top of the board. He underlined both and drew a line down the middle of the board separating the two. He turned back to look at the class. He gave it a moment. "Anyone?" he asked. His eyes snapped to Rogue's as she raised her hand. "Rogue," he said.

"Tactics are short term while strategies are long term," Rogue answered.

"Very good," Magneto said as he wrote "short term" and "long term" on the board underneath the appropriate columns. "Given that core difference, what others could you infer?" he asked the class. A few moments passed and nothing. He and Rogue made eye contact again as she started to raise her hand. "Someone besides Rogue," he said. "I can't call on you every time, my dear," he added as Rogue lowered her hand. She just shrugged.

Still nothing.

"I understand that it may not seem as though I am not teaching you anything: since I am hardy giving you answers before asking you all questions. But strategy, at its' core, is evaluating a situation and using the knowledge at your dispose to gain an understanding and devise a course of action to respond to whatever obstacles are in your path. I cannot teach you everything I know, but I can give you the tools you will need in order to utilize the knowledge already at your disposal to make the best possible decisions," he said.

"Right now, the obstacle in your path is attempting to answer my question. Which is all I'm asking you do; make an attempt. If I wanted someone to give me the correct answers on the first try, I would let Rogue answer each question: since somehow she's taking this course already," Magneto said. He watched a smirk appear on her face. What could that mean? Could she som- 'Now is not the time,' he told himself as he shook his head at himself. "Now- I will ask again: what do you believe might be some other differences between tactics and strategies?" he asked.

"Hmm-" he heard Miss Pride start to say.

"Yes?" Magneto asked.

"Well, a tactic might, like, be about completing something small? Like getting to the other side of a battle field. But a strategy would be, like, more about winning the battle?" Shadowcat asked.

"Very good, Miss Pride, excellent example," Magneto said with a smile, which Shadowcat returned, before he turned to the board. "A tactic involves completing a task and a strategy fulfills a purpose," he said as he wrote "task and "purpose" under their titles. "What else?" he as he glanced around the class. A few hands were raised this time. Now, they were getting somewhere.


Thank you for reading!

My lab top is working again! So, I can write on the way to work again. I can't promise a chapter everyday, but things are looking good :)

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