A/N: Tah dah! I'm getting better at this whole updating in a decient amount of time thing. Just a fair warning, this chapter probably won't provide many answers. If I wrote it right, it should bring up more questions. Muhahaha. Anyway. Feel free to ask me anything or recommend anything or just leave a review in general. I love my reviewers. Y'all are great. Oh, and to make something clear, the X-Men haven't ignored Ororo's absense. It's only been a couple of hours and they've been a little overwhelmed.
Pietro, Wanda, Lance, Todd, and Fred stood awkwardly in Professor Xavier's office surrounded by very angry looking X-Men. Actually, Wanda, Lance, Todd and Fred were standing awkwardly; Pietro was laid back in a chair like he owned the place.
"So, let me get this straight. Magneto, the man who has attempted to kill us on numerous occasions, sent the Brotherhood, who nearly did kill us on numerous occasions, to help us, your sworn enemies, bail him out of prison for murdering the Mayor, who is a well known mutant-hater." Scott stared incredulously at the mismatched group in front of him.
"You got most of that right, except the part about Magneto," replied Pietro.
"Yeah, he's innocent," Lance said. He had been avoiding Kitty's gaze the entire time. When he had entered, she had been sitting a little too close to Piotr for his liking. "And we've gotta prove it."
"Why should we help him?" asked Logan, clearly outraged that Charles let them on the property. Many of the other X-Men shared his same thoughts, as they were shifting uncomfortably about the room, as if preparing for a fight.
"Look. He said he'd call around nine." Wanda spoke for the first time, her clouted voice ringing clear. The clock on the wall read eight forty-five. "You can see for yourself."
Immediately the two groups of teenagers started arguing back and forth, leaving the adults to attempt to mediate. The good news was they did not have to wait fifteen minutes for the anticipated phone call. It rang within five minutes of Wanda's words. The entire room froze, watching carefully as Charles calmly picked up the phone.
"Charles Xavier."
"Hello." Magneto sounded uncharacteristically agitated on the other end of the line. "Are they there?"
"Yes, they arrived about ten minutes ago. Why, may I ask, did you send them to me?"
"They need to be safe. I don't know exactly what is going on, but no one is playing by the rules."
"What is going on, Erik?"
"I'd love to know the answer to that question. An entire brigade showed up at my apartment to arrest me for a murder I am positive I did not commit."
"So you are innocent."
"That's what I just said, is it not?" Charles ignored his old friend's snide remark.
"They have figured out a way to keep me from using my powers, Charles. Things are not going to be simple." He leaned forward at his desk, a grave look crossing his face. Some way to stop Magneto's mutation? How was that even possible?
"I can hire a lawyer for you, but this is not going to be easy. Do you have any proof you didn't do this? An alibi perhaps?"
"Not one I can use." The bitterness was seeping through the telephone line.
"If I am going to help you, I need to know the truth."
"The truth might get people hurt. Keep my children safe, Charles."
"Who are you protecting?" Charles' voice grew very serious. Something much more sinister was taking place than what he first thought.
"All I know is that I am being framed. And whoever is doing it, is doing one hell of a job. Promise me that you will watch over them."
"I promise, but-" He did not get to finish his sentence as Magneto had hung up the phone, leaving the other man alone with his thoughts and the anxious children around him.
"What did he say?" asked Jean, breaking the silence.
"He says he is innocent."
"Told ya," muttered Pietro.
"So what if he is innocent?" asked Rogue, stepping towards the desk where the telephone was resting. "What're we gonna do about it?"
"She has a valid point," commented Hank. "Even if Magneto did not kill the Mayor, his past transgressions precede him. It will be hard to defend him, even for the best lawyer you can buy."
"Then we need to play a different angle." Wanda walked forward and threw two large manila folders down on the desk. "This is everything we could get. One of them has pictures of evidence; the other is all the boring paperwork."
"You stole evidence?!" Scott looked at the group in astonishment.
"Course not. What sweet'ums here left out is that we borrowed the real papers and made copies and then took them back," said Todd. Wanda visibly shuddered as he tried to get closer to her.
Hank approached the folders and began flipping through them. It had been a brutal murder. The photographs depicted a horrific scene full of blood. Edward Kelly was unrecognizable in the close up of his face- it had been mauled thoroughly. There were no bullets or even a bullet wound. The cause of death had been impalement.
"Maybe we don't have to prove Magneto's innocence," remarked the Beast. His furry hands traced over the pages, taking in as much as he could. "All was have to do is prove someone else murdered Kelly."
"Time to wake up." A sickly sweet voice carried through Ororo's mind as she struggled to gain consciousness. Her head ached and she could feel a heavy metal weighing down her wrists. Groaning she opened her eyes, trying to figure out what happened.
"Ah, finally, she wakes." It was the same man talking, but this time he wasn't mocking her. Blinking several times, a masked face was looming in front of her. Storm's immediate instinct was to pull back, but there was a solid wall at her back. Logan's long training days taught her to search the room. She was kneeling on stone and it was a relatively small room; probably a basement of some kind. There were two other men in the room; both masked as the one talking to her.
"Who-who are you?" Ororo was startled by the weak sound that her mouth emitted. Something was terribly off. She was cold. And exhausted. It was then the panic set in. "What have you done? What did you do to me?"
"I'm guessing our little gadget worked," said the man as he tapped her restraints. "Some friends of mine lent it to me. Should keep you in check during all of this."
Ororo glanced down at the 'gadget' that was clasped around her wrists. It was a normal pair of handcuffs, perhaps a bit heavier, but with one distinct difference. There were five minuscule blinking blue lights lining one side of the cuffs. It was those blue lights that were keeping her from using her powers.
"All of what?" The sedatives were almost completely out of her system, but it did not keep her from being a bit drowsy. Yellowing teeth flashed from behind the mask and her captor stepped back. He gave out a small chuckle and motioned to his colleague.
"Why don't you ask her?" The second man, who was a fair amount taller and just as broad, stood evenly before Storm.
"Where were you the night of April sixteenth?" Ororo stared at him dumbstruck. Was there something specific about that date she was supposed to recall? What was that two, maybe three, weeks ago?
"The sixteenth?" she repeated. What had she done? It had been a Friday, a school day for the kids. She had gone shopping during the day, they had needed groceries. Then that evening…that evening she had gone out and not returned until the next morning. "I went to the store and then to have dinner with a friend at the Presidential."
"Oh really?" Storm was under the strong suspicion they already knew where she had been that night. "And who is this friend?"
"Erik Lensherr." Might as well be honest.
"Wrong answer." The man backhanded her across the face. It hurt well enough, but it was nothing Ororo could not handle. "Try again. Where were you the night of the sixteenth of April."
"I told you. I was at the Presidential," she repeated, not knowing where this was going.
"What do you think boys?" He looked back at his partners who were snickering at his actions. "I think she's a bit confused." This time he slammed his steel toe boot into her abdomen, forcing her to double over in pain. The first man approached them, kneeling beside her.
"My friend asked you a question." He pulled her hair, compelling her to look him in the eyes. "I'm going to give you a while to think about it. Because I don't think you know an Erik Lensherr. I think you were alone that night. And you have no idea who this Lensherr person is." He motioned to the other two and they left her alone in her prison. Ororo was thoroughly confused. This men had to be adversaries of Erik's, but the sophisticated shackles screamed government operatives. She tried to recall the night in question. Something had happened- but not that night. It had been the next morning that the interesting conversation had taken place.
She rolled over in bed only to find the other side empty. Propping herself up on her elbows, she glanced toward the bedroom door. It was slightly open and she could hear the television humming outside of it. Storm pulled the robe off the beside chair and walked lightly into the adjoining room. Erik was sitting on the couch, engrossed on whatever was on TV.
"Good morning," she murmured, lowering herself gracefully next to him. He gave her a smile, silently inviting her to move in closer. Soon she was comfortably cuddled next to the older man.
"Indeed it is." His gaze reverted back to the screen and she found herself watching as well. The camera was focused on an older Victorian home where yellow crime scene tape had been put up in the yard. People flocked the area while homicide vehicles crowded the streets.
"What happened?"
"It appears our dear Mayor is dead." Ororo's eyes grew wide. No matter what the truth was, she knew the press was going to swing it towards mutants. Kelly was openly criticizing past human-mutant relations and was calling for a so called 'mutant registration' that would only increase tension between the two races.
"This is terrible." Erik gave her a sidelong glance.
"Death is terrible. This is not."
"Erik," she chastised. He merely shrugged.
"That man would have brought nothing good to this city. People hate us enough as it is. It would have only caused bloodshed."
"Because you have done so much to help with that." Her sarcasm earned her a glare.
"I am merely standing up for what is right." Erik unintentionally glanced at the faded numbers on his exposed forearm. "No one should be persecuted without a fight. We will not be the weaker race."
"Call it what you may. Either way this will not end well for mutants." Storm thought for a moment before shaking her head. "Of course, it was most likely a mutant that did it." Erik chuckled.
"They only got to him before I could." She hit him playfully across the chest. Erik changed the channel, picked up his coffee off the table in front of them, and settled in for the morning. Ororo watched him closely wondering when they would have to address their differences.
Storm rested her head against the wall, playing the memory over again in her head, wondering if she would ever get the chance to see him again; to have to argument, to spend another night in his bed, to sit in his arms. Why didn't they want her to associate with Erik? How did they even know about their relationship? In fact, the better question was why was she here in the first place?