The phone in his pocket began vibrating. Erik picked it up and put it to his ear. He hadn't heard from Peter and Raven since their last check-in, which had lasted only seconds. He knew that Logan was getting anxious, and he wasn't the only one.
However, he'd been contenting himself with the knowledge that this was how the mission was supposed to run. They needed reconnaissance before they could move in, and they had a poor lay of the land at the moment. They'd know more after Peter and Raven returned with a map. Until then they would have to content themselves with the check-ins.
The fact that the phone was buzzing outside of check-in time caused him a momentary pang of fear, followed by a wave of calmness. It had been far too long since he'd done a mission like this, and he ruefully reflected that contact, more often than not, was just about information.
So he clicked open the phone, remaining calm.
"I'm here-"
"You'll never believe it!" Peter shouted, "I saw her walking down the street. With like, kids! Two of them!"
"Peter, calm down!" snapped Erik.
There was harried breathing, and the sound of what he could only assume was the sound of Raven trying to get Peter to speak slowly. Logan, who had been staring at him intently to begin with, was now looking with narrowed eyes.
"Alright," said Erik, "Now, who did you see?"
"Laura's mom, Kayla."
He looked over at Logan, but judging by the lack of color in his face, he'd heard.
"Where?" he growled.
"Peter, hold on for a minute," said Erik.
"It was weird! She was a nanny!"
He expected more, but, apparently, Peter had just needed to get that out of his system. He rested the phone in the crook of his neck and made eye contact with Logan. The man's breathing was shallow, his hands already curling into fists.
"Our number one priority is making sure we know where Essex and Stryker are, and how we can stop them," he said.
A harsh flicker sparked in Logan's eyes, and Erik took a deep breath.
"I won't jeopardize everything to get back Kayla," he said.
"She's been a prisoner in her own damn body for five months," Logan snarled.
"Understood," said Erik, "And she might've had a chance to escape that when you saw her at Westchester: Charles told me. But she chose instead to let you and Laura go, because she understood, like she would understand now."
The look Logan gave him wasn't one of understanding, but he can still hear movement on the other end of the phone. It's then that he realized they needed to get off the phone. He doesn't know if Essex had any sort of phone tracking technology, or if there's an advanced wiretapping in the area he doesn't know of. It's paranoid, but he can't afford to be complacent.
He needed to get the information, then get off the phone.
"Peter, where did she go?" he asked.
"Down the street," Peter said, "I can't...I...I needed to talk to Raven, right? Going off on my own could've resulted in a trap, right?"
"You did the right thing," replied Erik, "Can you give me a direction?"
"Um, sort of in the direction of the mountain," said Peter.
"Can you describe the two girls?"
"Yeah," Peter said.
He heard him swallow, no doubt closing his eyes so he could concentrate. Erik wanted to tell him to hurry up, that every minute spent on the phone was probably putting them in danger, but he couldn't. They needed descriptions, more than just superficial ones. Saying they were two little girls wouldn't suffice, not when they could be a vital clue as to what was going on.
"One of them was four," said Peter, "Maybe five. She was Asian, really pale, delicate. She wore this black, little kid dress...nice material. Kind of expensive."
It was a good detail to remember. He wanted to be impressed, but the seconds were ticking away.
"And she was tiny, even for a child that age," Peter said, "She ran around like she was thought that, if she fell, she was gonna break something."
Another good detail, but perhaps a little more to the girl's personality than to something they could use to identify her.
"And the other girl?" he asked.
"She was a year or two older," he said, "Dressed exactly the same. Asian again, but her skin wasn't pale, and she's not delicate or tiny. They didn't look or act alike at all. She really direct, not scared at all or small, and she had this bright red hair-"
"Bright red hair?" asked Erik, "Asian, but bright red hair?"
"Yeah," Peter said.
He sounded as though he was suddenly realizing there was something unusual with that. Erik strode to the other end of the room and flung open his file on the Yashida family. He could feel Logan's eyes drilling into his back when he did.
"That's not common, is it?" Peter asked.
"No," he said, flipping to the desired page in his file, "Red hair, around six? Same expensive looking, plain dress?"
"Yep," said Peter, "She was super serious too."
"I'd imagine she would be, given that she grew up on the streets," Erik said.
"Wait, seriously?" asked Peter.
"Yes, I believe so," said Erik, "Contact the school and tell Charles where you found Kayla, try to see if he can track her. If he can't get inside her head, can't find her, tell him to try Yashida's granddaughter and the mutant he brought in to play her pet. They'll be close by."
The cell phone ringing on Charles's desk brought him out of his thoughts, which were currently with his son. But his thoughts were swirling and moving with him, driving away to a hospital where his wife was resting. It was almost frightening, how loud and sharp the sound of the phone was, but he picked it up quickly.
"This is Charles," he said.
"It's Raven," she said, "We found Kayla, and we need to find out what's going on without getting too close."
All of the moving, traveling thoughts in his head stood still. His thoughts withdrew from Moira, having only brushed her in his mind. They crept away from his son, all of it painfully so, and drew back into his head.
He leaned his head over to the side, trapping the cell phone between his neck and his ear. Charles began rolling down the hallway, taking the elevator toward Cerebro. The hallway felt empty with so many of the X-men gone, but he was hyper-aware that there were still plenty of students. He'd have to keep his voice low.
"Where?" he asked, getting into the elevator and pressing the appropriate floor.
"Down the main street," said Raven, "Peter said she was with two girls. One called her their nanny."
That drew him up short. The elevator doors closed and he shifted his grip of the phone.
"Nanny?" he asked.
"I don't know," said Raven, "I don't know why the hell Essex is shipping out his mercenaries as nannies. Erik thinks one of the girls might be Yashida's granddaughter. It's likely, given the company, but we need to know for sure. We need to figure out anything we can."
"I understand," Charles said, "I'll find out as much as I can, and I'll give you a call back."
"Be careful," said Raven.
"I could say that for you too," Charles said.
"And you often do. I have to go now."
"I'll talk to you soon."
She didn't answer, and he's left with silence as the elevator doors open. Charles didn't dwell on it though, because he knew he had to get moving. The search area had been significantly narrowed, but that didn't mean everything would be a done deal. Finding Kayla and breaking through her drug-induced barriers, even with Cerebro, wouldn't be easy.
He pushed himself the rest of the way down the hall, booting up Cerebro in silence. He hoped Erik would be able to keep Logan in control of himself long enough to actually get Kayla back. It would be just like the feral to charge after her, no thought in his head besides bringing Kayla home to her daughter. Charles rubbed his face, wondering when life had gotten to the point when he had to fight to save someone from a trap inside their head, to reunite a family that had never existed.
He placed the helmet on his head, and let his mind fill the room, creeping beyond the borders of Westchester, the state, the country. He saw the minds flitting about him of humans, people going on their way every day inside that small village, oblivious to the pain caused all around them.
Charles caught the small group as they walked into Yashida's mansion. The older of the two girls glowed, and the name Yukio slid into mind. Next to her, Mariko reached out and grabbed her friend's hand. She was small, timid, but happy to have a friend.
Kayla's mind felt as impenetrable as ever though and, truthfully, that was what he was worried about. He couldn't try to break into her head when too many people were around, since it might alert guards to his presence. As it was, he only had a tenuous grasp on the walls of her mind.
When they passed into the girls' room and Kayla sat down, Charles saw his chance. He pushed inside, and saw Kayla twitch slightly. The same webs he'd encountered before barred him from complete access, almost mocking him. He gnashed his teeth together, peeling them away.
From somewhere distant, he heard a voice call him. He increased his efforts, slogging through what felt like a forest of mud. Every now and then the drug's tendrils would snap at his own mind. He slapped them away before they got too close, made easier by Cerebro's strength.
In his mind's eye, he could see other people coming into the room. Mariko was being led out by her father while Yukio stood where she was, looking at the incoming businessmen with a cold eye. It wasn't the look of a child.
He would have to hurry. Blood was already dripping down his nose and, coupled with what he knew about the drug in Kayla's system, she might be due for another does soon.
Kayla.
He could hear her, a distant voice weeping.
Charles...you have to leave, she whispered, He's coming, and he'll know you're here. He wants to take a look at her himself.
What do you mean? For experimentation?
No. Yashida won't allow it. But the girl...Essex and Stryker think she might be able to see the future, Kayla said, Essex thinks it's an odd quirk of her mutation.
The assertion stunned him but, in truth, he knew he shouldn't be surprised. Someday in the future, he'd meet a woman with the ability to send someone back in time. Besides, surprise, like so much else, could take a backseat.
Truthfully, what he was worried about was the idea of Essex having a mutant with the ability to predict their moves.
We need to get her out before he can ask too many questions, Charles said, Has he already spoken to her?
Not yet. He has me watching them because he knows I can't not protect them, Kayla murmured, But Charles, he talks about Laura almost daily. He has a calendar for your son. He wants them both back, and Yashida's been saying things about Logan-
So they are working together? asked Charles, fighting rising revulsion, Is that the new base of operations?
Yes, Kayla said, Charles, I...
Her words faltered, and he could almost feel her nausea.
I don't feel good, she said, I don't...I feel like my mind's about to be sick...Charles, I don't think...I think...
Kayla?
Her mind blurred in his grasp as footsteps moved down the hall.
Charles, he's not mass-producing the collars, she said, I'm too valuable to lose in his eyes but...when they come, they need to leave me.
Logan won't allow that.
He might not have a choice. Charles-
A deep, hacking noise shook his vision. He realized that Kayla was coughing, and he moved his view slightly out of her mind so he could see. Yukio was staring at Kayla, and they watched in horror together as blood splattered from her lips across her legs and hands.
Charles...healing factor or no...I think this serum's killing me, she said, I think I may be dead already: I just haven't stopped breathing.