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Chapter Nine of
A Simple Favor:
On March 10th, 2002, around 06:30 pm, Magneto sat with Rogue in his study. She sat on one couch and he on the other across from it. The only object between them was a coffee table which was littered with the remnants of their take-out. The girl herself looked fatigued, sweat dripping down the sides of her face, her breaths labored.
All things considered, she was doing well. Far better than he had expected.
"Again," he said. He watched her reach up and wipe the sweat off her brow before the same determination he had seen on her face since they had started this exercise reappeared.
"Okay, I'm ready," she said.
He gave her a nod before he closed his eyes and freed his mind from his physical body, taking astral form. He leaped forward, throwing himself into her mind. To the girl's credit, she pushed against him with all of her might, attempting to prevent him. Each time her skill increased and his entry was delayed. Unfortunately, his force of will proved too much and eventually, he once again found himself inside her mind.
He glanced around his surroundings, finding himself inside Charles' dining room. At the table, the inhabitants of the mansion were eating breakfast. He was grateful, considering his promise to Rogue, that the memory he kept entering was so mundane.
'The same memory each time,' he said as he looked at each of the three exits. 'Strange entry point for her mind,' he mused as he floated about in his astral form. 'Why not?' he asked himself as he floated towards the door he knew led to the kitchen. He passed through and saw a blinding white light. The next thing he felt was his feet on the ground as he found himself back in the dining room.
He walked forward and was surprised to hear his footsteps on the floor.
"That shouldn't be," he said as he realized he could smell the contents of the breakfast table. He hadn't been able to before. Perhaps?
No, of course, he didn't have access to his powers. Why would he?
And it was time to leave. He closed his eyes and willed his mind to exit hers.
He opened them a moment later and found that he was still standing in the dining room. He had been able to leave before. He also wasn't a solid figure in the room before, who could walk, smell. Touch? And taste?
"Pardon me," he said, reaching forward between Scott and Kurt, grabbing a fork, and stabbing a piece of breakfast sausage. He took a step back as he smelled the rather appealing item on the fork. He considered it a moment before he took a tentative bite and- it was rather good, actually. And he could taste it.
He was grounded in the memory, experiencing it in real-time. That shouldn't be possible. He should be a ghost in her mind. Observing but unable to affect anything in a tangible way.
He closed his eyes and attempted to leave- but, no, still nothing. Still stuck.
Seeing as he couldn't leave, he may as well explore. He dropped the half-eaten sausage to the table and turned around. He decided to use the same exit he had tried before. Perhaps, he simply needed to return to the first instance of this room to depart. Once he had walked through, he did indeed find himself back in the dining room but was still a solid figure and very much stuck.
He marched across the room and used the exit that led to the main lobby. And no, no, he was back in the dining room again. He made his way to the third exit and, no, still the dining room. He tried all three doors again in a different order, having no better course of action. No, still in the same room. He tried again and again and again-
And finally a different location. He was no longer in the dining room. No, now, he was standing in one of the Institute's long hallways and he was beset with not three doors. But rather eight. Eight doors that could lead anywhere.
He let out a sigh as he walked forward toward the middle of the hall, where Shadowcat, Jean Grey, and Nightcrawlers were all standing.
"Rogue, hurry up, we're going to be late for school," Cyclops said.
"Yeah, yeah," Rogue said as a door towards the end of the hall opened and she joined the others. "Wouldn't want me leaving without my gloves now would ya?" she asked before the group of teenagers started walking down the hall. He followed after them, walking just behind as they turned the corner.
He turned with them only to find himself back on the other side of the hall.
"Rogue, hurry up, we're going to be late for school," Cyclops said again as Magneto walked towards them.
"Yeah, yeah," Rogue said as the same door opened and she entered the hallway. "Wouldn't want me leaving without my gloves now would ya?" she asked before the group of teenagers started to walk down the hall as they had before.
"Alright, let's think about this logically," he said as he watched the group round the hall. "It's clearly some kind of maze," he said before he found himself back at the end of the hall and the teenagers standing as they had been.
"Rogue, hurry up, we're going to be late for school," Cyclops said yet again.
"For heaven's sake," he muttered under his breath.
"Yeah, yeah," Rogue said, emerging from her bedroom.
"I'd be rather pleased with these defensives if I weren't trapped within them," he muttered as he held the bridge of his nose, trying his best to ignore the teenagers. He now understood they were a distraction. A timed trap to keep him from moving forward. He closed his eyes and focused on his thoughts. "Wait for the reset and make a run for it," he told himself. He'd try one door at a time until he found a new location.
And so he tried and tried and tried and tried and tried until-
"Rogue's room, it must be," he said as he waited for the reset and ran.
"Rogue, hurry up, we're going to be late for school," Cyclops said as he got to the door and tried the knob. But it was locked to him.
"Yeah, yeah," Rogue said, emerging from her bedroom. He stepped to the side allowing her past him, as she closed the door behind her. "Wouldn't want me leaving without my gloves now would ya?" she asked as she joined the others. He quickly pulled at the knob and banged his fist against the door as he found it still locked.
"I have to go through while she has the door open, don't I?" he asked before sighing. "Alright, alright. Last time," he said as he braced himself to the reset. As soon as the white light had passed he ran.
"Rogue, hurry up, we're going to be late for school," Cyclops said as he got to the door.
"Yeah, yeah," Rogue said, emerging from her bedroom. He ducked down and squeezed himself passed her and through the door.
He blinked as he stood and found himself in utter darkness. Where was he now?
"Allow me," he heard his own voice say before he heard a light switch flip. As his eyes adjusted it only took a moment to figure out where he was. There, sitting leisurely by the window, sat none other than Magneto, the master of magnesium, himself.
"Hilarious," he said dryly as he glanced around the room. The hotel room, he recalled had three viable exits. The main exit into the hallway, the bathroom door, and the window. Not that he wanted to chance jumping out a window. He didn't have his powers after all and wasn't sure what would happen. Perhaps, he'd try the bathroom first.
"Leaving already, Max? But I haven't had a chance to ask you about my labyrinth," he heard himself say as he stopped dead in his tracks.
"Pardon me, your labyrinth?" Magneto asked as he turned to face his physically older self.
"Indeed," his older self smiled as he tilted his head up to look directly at him. "Are you enjoying it? Charles certainly isn't," he smirked.
"He's read her mind?" he asked.
"He's been attempting to, at the very least," the other man said as he stood. "Every night, since you had the brilliant idea of coercing Rogue into informing Charles not only that she has absorbed me but also that there was vital intel to be gained in her mind," he said, dryly.
"I thought Charles already knew," he said.
"He did not, because Rogue didn't tell him, like the smart girl she is," he said strongly, folding his arms over his chest. "Rogue did, however, know there was a possibility that Cyclops had relayed that piece of information during his debriefing. When Rogue finally imparted that little tidbit, she wisely acted as though Charles should have already known," his older self said while circling him. "Charles, ever astute, barely batted an eye," he said.
"I see," he said, strangely ease-at-ill. He had given many a lecture, but to be on the receiving end.
"Instead, Charles began his nightly quest to obtain whatever other lovely fragments of intel he could. And while the vulnerability of her mind might've escaped your attention. I can assure you, I have been diligently hard at work to protect our secrets from Charles' prying," he said.
"He hasn't gotten in?" he asked.
"Absolutely not. I've had a month and a half headstart and I expand upon my work daily," he said. "It took him a week to get out of the dining room," he added smugly.
"How?" he asked in disbelief. He'd barely been here an hour.
"I turned them off for you, but most of the doors are an automatic eviction from her mind. Every time he comes across one, he jettisoned and has to start all over again," he chuckled. "Even Charles has his limits and needs sleep," he said. "It took him another two weeks to figure out he had to go around Rogue in the hallway," he answered.
"He's been to this room?" he asked alarmed.
"Of course, not. I installed this temporary for your visit and I'll replace it with the next part of the maze upon your departure," he said.
"Is there any way he can circumvent your defenses?" he asked.
"Nothing short of ripping each and every one of the individuals she's absorbed from her mind would dismantle my work. And while Charles is many things, sadistic is not one of them. She'll be fine," he said.
"Thank you," he said.
"You're welcome," his older self said before he snapped his fingers and the light on the hotel door flashed green and the door popped open. "Now go tell the girl she's going home tonight before the shock wears off and she's fully conscious of the fact that you kidnapped her. Albeit, it was in the kindest way possible but a kidnapping nonetheless," he said dryly.
"Probably for the best," he agreed as he headed for the door.
"Oh," his other self said. "And stop being such a putz and give the girl a dose of your powers," he ordered. "There's no reason she can't fly herself back to the car," he added as Magneto turned back towards his other self.
"She might see what I'm planning."
"What does that matter? She won't tell anyone," he rebuked.
"She might see this conversation," he said.
"Good. She should know of Charles' failed endeavors. Tell her," he said strongly.
"Listen," he said.
"No, you listen to me, Max Eisenhardt," his older self said as he marched up to him. "You think Rogue's attraction is your greatest advantage? It's not. You made a choice in this very room to treat her with respect, which is more than she's ever got from Raven and now Charles. Do not add yourself to the list of her disappointments," he said strongly. "Do you understand me?" he asked.
"I believe I do," he said.
"Good. Now, off you go," he said, dismissively waving towards the door. "You have your work and I have mine," he said.