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Chapter 28 of
A Simple Favor:
On August 10th about 7:05 pm EST, Rogue sat across from the Professor in the Valley Plaza Outlet Mall's food court. Kitty was in line to grab her, the Professor and Mr. McCoy's to-go salads, and Kurt was on line at a different kiosk in the food court getting her and Rogue burgers and soda. The Professor's gaze was set firmly in the book he was holding and aside from saying 'hi', after tasked with watching all of their bags, she hadn't said much to the Professor since sitting down a few minutes ago.
She was eighteen and this was the first opportunity she'd had to speak with the Professor as an adult since she realized she was one. But as she wouldn't have that much time, she wondered if she should try to get into anything or wait another day or so.
She took a deep breath.
"I don't trust you, Professor," she said, without any preamble. Her tone wasn't angry, but rather resigned. His book snapped shut and knew his attention was now firmly on her.
"Given all that's happened, I am also having difficulties," he admitted. "I don't know what else you had in that bag, but I can imagine the fear you felt and prepared for," he said before sighing. "You've been wonderfully compliant for most of the summer; yet, over these past two days, as you've had time to yourself, I'm fearful you've been in contact with Max," he said.
"Even if I was, I don't tell Max X-Men stuff. We wouldn't've talked about anything you care about," she said dismissively.
"Meaning that I should trust you? Or that the interference that caused our unexpected delay this evening was magnetic in nature?" he asked pointedly, his eyebrow arching, it almost felt like he was looking down his nose at her. She couldn't help but roll her eyes.
"Prof, I'm eighteen, ya can't forbid me from having a conversation with someone," she countered.
"Rogue, I couldn't forbid it when you were seventeen either," he replied, his tone was wry and a bit incredulous. "I can't control you at all. The only power I have over you is that which you allow," he said bluntly.
She sat back, considering that, as Magneto huffed in derision.
"And is that what you need to trust someone; knowin' you have the ability to control 'em?" she asked him, crossing her arms over her chest. She watched him take a breath as he moved to hold his chin in his palm, and wondered if he was going to evade the question.
"I wouldn't have liked to think that about myself, but you and Magnus have a way of forcing me to confront certain truths," he said thoughtfully.
'Good, Charles needs a reality check every now and again. Someone to remind him he's fallible,' Magneto commented.
"I haven't been in this situation very often. Twice now, it seems," he said, smiling bitterly as he folded his hands in front of himself again.
'Thrice, he's forgetting Gabrielle,' Magneto corrected.
"And I haven't handled it well either time," the Professor continued. Rogue considered voicing Magneto's correction out loud, but decided against it. She didn't have all of the details. And it wasn't really important, or germane to the conversation. Yet. It might either be an omission, or he was being just as untruthful. For now, she filed the comment from Magneto away, for later use. She just knew him. She knew his pattern. What she needed to know was if he was willing to work with her. Trust her.
"So, what do we do? Can we fix this?" she asked instead, matching their bluntness with one another.
"I'm not certain," he admitted, shrugging very slightly with his right shoulder. "But you've made it abundantly clear that you have no desire to leave the Institute or the X-Men and for that reason, I'd like us to try."
'But how?' she asked herself, not sure what she could do. She'd been truthful. Secretive, yes, but truthful. The Professor was the one reacting to her exerting free will. What was she supposed to do about that? This wasn't on her to fix? Was it?
'Tell him what you want,' Magneto advised. 'Tell him what's been bothering you the most.'
"Could ja- …" she paused, as her foot tapped against the floor before she let out a huff. "Could ya knock it off with the bullshit? she asked, as she watched his eyes widen. "You're telepathic and sometimes ya actually use your powers," she declared, sitting up straight. "Can ya just own that instead of telling me ta stop talkin' when it's obvious what ya've done?" she asked him.
"The others are not as perceptive as you are, Rogue and, frankly, they don't need to know everything I do on mutants' behalf," he said.
"You-" she said, before pausing. Magneto was groaning in her mind, responding to the Professor's tone. She rather felt the same. "Can you hear how condescending you sound?" she asked in a slightly astonished tone. "And ya can't claim talkin' Kitty and Kurt's parents inta letting 'em come home early was to 'protect mutants'," she said, going so far as she use pull up her fingers and make air quotes "Ya did that for me 'cause ya know ya messed up with all that psychological bullshit ya tried this summer," she said, speaking bluntly.
"It didn't start that way," he said, defensively. "I was angry at Magneto, not you. I didn't wish to misplace my anger at you, so I thought it better to refrain from speaking about it. After I returned from my trip, I realized the effect the isolation was having on you and-"
"That ya could control me if ya kept it up. 'Cause ya didn't mean ta, so couldja really be blamed if I did it ta myself?" she finished dryly.
"Yes," he admitted, his expression was notably blank, let he was trying to not show any emotion "And I'm sorry-"
"That it didn't work, in the end," she finished for him. He held her gaze, and from what she could tell was unable to deny it. "Yeah, I saw Max today," she said, feeling she still had the moral high ground between the two admissions, even as the Professor's eyes widened again.
"We talked, not about X-Men stuff," she said, shrugging her shoulders. "I don't talk ta him about X-Men stuff, 'cause I promised you I wouldn't and I keep my promises," she said, folding her arms over her chest again. "If I need advice about anything, I'll talk ta the copy of Magneto's consciousness I got in my head that I absorbed on June second," she said the admissions coming out, fast and loose; all of it technically the truth.
She watched the Professor take a long deep breath. "You," he said, speaking slowly, "have a copy of Magneto… in your mind?" he asked, astonished.
"Yeah, he reconstructed the maze. Both of us thought it was a good idea for me to have a few layers of protection from Mutant's like Mesmero," she confirmed as she watched the Professor's eyes flare.
'You've started. You may as well give him a summary of what's been bothering him most,' Magneto advised.
"On June second, I called in two favors," Rogue continued, "one from you and one from Magneto. It was the same favor; ta let me and Max handle something on my terms, instead of the X-Men's or Magneto's. I dealt with it and it's handled," she said.
'Hopefully,' Magneto interjected. She didn't let their thoughts reflect across her face as she continued on.
"So, no, I wasn't alone, the entire summer, I had the company of three middle-aged men. The only one I hadn't talked ta until today was Max," she finished, continuing to make the distinction between the younger man Max now was, with the older sounding copy in her mind. Considering Magneto had weeks of memories in her mind and Max was so young, that didn't feel like a lie. They were two separate entities now, that was a fact. "And Kitty and Kurt," she added as an afterthought, for sake of thoroughness, shrugging slightly as she did.
"Alright," the Professor said, slowly, as he sat back in his seat. He looked like he was trying to make sense of what she'd just said. "And Magneto? Would you call him vocal? Does he respond to you often?" he asked.
"Yeah, why wouldn't he?" Rogue huffed. "We've been talkin' this whole time," she clarified as a question of her own came to mind. "Who's Gabrielle?" she asked.
"Gabrielle?" he repeated, with a raised eyebrow.
'Haller, his ex-wife,' Magneto supplied before the Professor could.
"You were married?!" Rogue exclaimed, a grin coming to her face, even as the Professor's face grew pale. "When were you married?"
"It was a long time ago," the Professor said.
'Nearly sixteen years ago,' Magneto supplied.
"Why do ya never talk about it?" she asked next.
"As I said it was a long time ago, details that are best left in the past," he answered, looking over her shoulder, his gaze noticeably set away from her. One glance behind her told her why; Kitty and Kurt were inbound with their dinner. "Can we continue this conversation, tomorrow or the day after, perhaps?" he asked.
"Sure, Prof," she huffed indignantly.
"Thank you, Rogue," he said, his tone dry.
'Gabrielle wanted to live aboard due to her work with the United Nations. Charles expected his new bride to put aside her current position and find one that would allow her to remain in Westchester,' Magneto explained as Rogue stood, smiling as Kurt and Kitty were getting closer, waving, in case they forgot exactly where they were in such a large seating area. 'They couldn't agree and since he'd promised never to use his powers on her, ultimately, she left him. The marriage was all of three months,' he finished.
'Was this before or after you left the institute?' she asked as sitting down as her friends drew closer.
'Before,' he answered.
'Why didn't they try long distance?' she asked and Magneto scoffed in her mind.
'Charles, compromise?' he laughed indignantly. 'That's always been his problem, my girl. You either fall in line with his vision or leave out of frustration. There is no middle ground,' he said as Kitty and Kurt sat down.
'There's gonna haveta be, or I'm next,' she replied, smiling at her brother as he sat across from her, and helpfully slid the tray so she could retrieve her dinner.
'I'll be most pleased to have you back, Anna-Marie, when Charles inevitably forces your hand,' Magneto said as Rogue picked up her burger. She thought about that for a moment as she took her first bite.
'Or maybe I'll just go ta college and give him four years to cool off,' she said, chewing.
'Seven if you go to Law School,' Magneto added in a positively cheerful tone. Because she was thinking of leaving Xavier? 'Assuming you can tolerate him for the entirety of your senior year.'
'That's up to him,' she remarked.
'It typically is,' he sneered.
On August 13th, 1:35 pm CST, Max had managed to track down the carnival in Dallas Texas. It was the middle of August and it seemed Mesmero's fair was in town to take advantage of the gap prior to the Texas State Fair setting up in Late September. The attendance wasn't nearly as good as it would be in a month, due to the heat of the late summer, but some revenue came in, making the station worth it for a few weeks before they would pack up again and move on to the next town.
At least, that was what Max had gleaned from overhearing conversations of the carnival workers as he walked about the various tents set up, searching for Mesmero's. He had to admit, it was nice not having to render himself invisible as he walked about the fair. No one questioned what a teenager was doing at a carnival, even by himself. They certainly weren't going to question a teenager holding a fountain soda and a half-eaten stick of cotton candy as he walked about.
The anonymity was freeing.
He'd never been to a carnival or fare in his adolescence, he realized. Only as an adult when the twins were quite young and really it had been about their enjoyment, not his.
'Not that I'm here to enjoy myself,' he thought as he pulled thoughts of childish fun out of his mind and focused back on the task at hand.
This was his second pass and he hadn't found Mesmero's tent yet, hence why he stopped for a drink on such a hot summer day. The cotton candy had just been a bonus he'd ended up buying as he attempted to blend in more than he already was. It was a good purchase, he rather enjoyed the way the spun sugar strands melted against his tongue.
An image of Anna-Marie popped up, unannounced in his mind, she was staring up at him, practically begging him to kiss her. 'What's the harm in a little kiss, sugar?' The back of his neck started feeling extremely warm and it had nothing to do with the hot Texan sun beating down on them all. It was all her. He stifled a groan taking a nice long sip of his soda, needing to cool down for more than one reason.
'Alright, just ask someone,' he said, growing inpatient with his search. 'Teenagers are allowed to ask where things are without being thought of as strange,' he reasoned as he walked up to a man who worked at the carnival on his smoke break, Max had seen on his last pass. "Excuse me, sir?" he asked.
God, it was still taking him time to get used to his voice. The one that came out of his mouth didn't match the one he remembered, he heard in his thoughts. It was disorienting to say the least, and so much easier to ignore when he was alone in the Sahara barely speaking to anyone.
Not for the first time, he wondered if Rogue ever thought that, too.
"Looking for something, boy?" the gruff worker asked, as he looked down at him, as he smoked a cigarette.
"The Great Mesmero," Max replied.
"Sorry, buddy, he left the troupe about a month ago," the worker replied, his tone filled with sympathy, like he was trying to lighten the blow of bad news.
Irritation filled him, making his face flush. He was going to throttle the other mutant.
"Do you know where he went?" Max asked.
"He didn't leave a forwarding address, buddy," the worker answered, laughing at the question itself. "Sorry," he said, like he was correcting himself.
"Oh, I came a long way to see him again," he said. Why did his young voice sound so pitiful? It was beyond frustrating.
"Buddy listen," the worker said, leaning in, as he took the cigarette out of his mouth and held it away from both of their faces. "Between you and me, I think he got poached by another carnival," he said, lowering his volume, as if he didn't want anyone else to hear him. Max felt his eyes flare with interest, not expecting the additional intel. "So, you said you traveled, maybe if you look around a bit, you might find him at another carnival or circus," he said gently, as if offering hope to a young boy.
"What makes you think he was poached? Did you see him with someone?" Max asked, still surprised the man was sharing anything at all. He usually had to intimidate someone with his abilities before they were this forthcoming.
"An Asian lady showed up about a month ago," he said, pulling back and pausing to take a drag. "He left with her in a jiffy. Didn't really say goodbye to anyone. That was Vincent's way," he said, taking the cigarette out of his mouth. "He comes and he goes," he said, tilting his hand back and forth, a small smoke trail forming in front of him. "We'll be in Oklahoma City in September if you want to try again next month," he offered, before taking a long drag.
"Do you get her name?" Max asked.
"Sorry, buddy," he said, patting him on the shoulder with his free hand. Was the carnie comforting him?
"Thanks," he said. The man took another drag, before dropping the cigarette to the ground and stamping it out with his boot.
"My break's over so, gonna need you to take a hike," he said, gesturing with his head.
"Thanks for your help, sir," he said before leaving the man, walking toward the carnival's exit. He'd gotten all he could from this location. 'Asian woman,' he repeated in his mind. There was only one mutant Asian woman he personally knew and the likelihood of her being in contact with Mesmero was- 'Astronomically slim,' he thought, chucking in his mind.
No, Mesmero had returned to his carnival for a time, as he said he would. He likely got a better paying job, or had managed to create a better paying job for himself and left for that reason. Not to-
'It's laughable,' he thought as he dropped his soda into a wastebasket he was passing. It might take longer than he's like, but he'd find Mesmero. He would.
On August 16th, around 3:18 pm EST, Rogue floated in the pool, wearing her new purple bikini stamped with red roses. Before she'd gotten in the pool, Kitty had stopped her to double and triple tie the four knots holding the garment to her body, saying she'd had a bad experience with her first bikini.
'You don't want to flash Kurt, do you?' Kitty had asked, causing her to blush at any idea of mortification and Kitty to giggle.
No, she did not and hadn't for the last three or so hours they'd been enjoying the pool. Kitty was lounging in the shallow end on a yellow inflatable raft. Rogue was floating in her back in the water and every so often, in between laps, Kurt was jumping in from the diving board, making waves for them both. It was a pretty relaxing day, all things considered.
"So, how do we feel about meat and vegetable kabobs for dinner?" Mr. McCoy asked.
"Do we have peppers?" Kurt asked hopefully.
"Pepper, mushrooms, onions, zucchini and tomatoes," he listed in response.
"That sounds delicious, Mr. McCoy," Kitty said.
"Ah-huh," Rogue hummed in agreement. "Ya need any help?" she asked. She had cooked quite a few meals with their instructor over the summer. She found she enjoyed acting as a sous-chef, prepping ingredients and the like. She also learned a few new meals from the erudite mutant.
"Thank you for such a generous office, but I'll manage on my own," he said kindly.
"Okay," she shrugged and he turned to leave
"Oh," he said, turning back, "but the Professor would like you to drop by his office sometime before dinner to continue your conversation. He said you'd know which one he meant."
'And there it is,' Magneto commented. 'You knew he was going to ask eventually.'
"Thanks, Mr. McCoy," she said as she headed to the stairs. 'I was kinda hoping he'd put it off until September,' she thought ruefully as she climbed out of the pool, walking to grab her towel.
She was half tempted to stroll into the Professor's office dripping wet with all of her menacing skin on display, covered only with Magneto's colors.
'Rogue,' the phantom of that very man chimed in her mind as she headed for entrance to the mansion via the kitchen, now wearing a towel around herself.
'Fine, I'll go get dressed,' she said, rolling her eyes, as she pulled the door open, letting herself in.
'Not to downplay the humor of your suggestion, but the point is to make peace with Charles, is it not?' he asked as she passed through the kitchen, into the hallway.
'It is,' she reconfirmed as she walked.
'Then you need to conduct yourself accordingly, rise to the occasion, rather than sink to Charles's level,' he advised as she pulled open
'Yeah, okay, I can do tha-,' she said, stopping mid-thought as she saw the door's the institute burst open in a gust of wind along with a blur entering the main lobby. The blur slowed and she saw Pietro, holding Wanda in her arms and, helping his sister to her feet. "Y'all alright?" she asked as she walked closer to them.
"We need to speak with Professor Xavier, right now," Wanda demanded.
"He's in his office, I'll go-" she said before Pietro disappeared and reappeared in the lobby.
"Xavier said to wait for him here until he tells us which room we're meeting in," Pietro said. "And that you should go get dressed, fast," he said, pointing at her.
"Sure, I'll-" she said, heading toward the stairs, as Kurt and Kitty appeared in a puff of smoke a few feet in front of her, both of them were dripping wet, clearing having gotten out of the pool in a rush.
"Bedroom express?" Kurt asked with a smile.
"Ah-huh," Rogue said, nodding.
On August 16th, around 9:20 pm GMT, Max passed the length of his base in the Sahara, attempting to decide his next course of action.
'I couldn't find Mesmero,' he thought regrettably.
He reached with his powers across the globe and swiftly realized he had nothing to actually search for- the puppetmaster didn't carry any distinct metal with him. On the off chance Mesmero actually was poached by another business, he'd traveled to a number of fairs and observed from above, invisible, searching for any sign of the mutant. That had predictively yielded no results.
He was wasting time and no closer to-
'The spider stone,' he realized. If Mesmero was still trying to free his master, there was little he could do about the metal he and Rogue had put into place. 'However, if he managed to open the doors blocking his path, another enslaved mutant's ability could free Apocalypse,' he reasoned.
It was the best idea he'd had in a couple of days.
A trip to London was in order and it was closer to his current location than Long Island.
On August 16th, 3:47 pm EST, Rogue had regrouped with the others in the Professor's office and they were all sitting on the couches or chairs. Rogue was dressed; dark jeans, tank top and the red hoodie, but her hair was still soaked. She'd pulled it up in a ponytail to get it off her face, Kitty had done the same and poor Kurt looked uncomfortable, his fur still wet from the pool.
"So, you two haven't heard from Magneto in some time?" the Professor asked, his eyes briefly meeting hers before looking at the twins.
"Our dad can go a while without contacting us. That's not unusual," Pietro said.
"Tell him about Gambit and Pyro," Wanda ordered impatiently.
"I'm getting to that," he said, turning back to look at the Professor.
"Look, no one contacts Magneto. Not even us. He always comes to us," he said and the Professor nodded, and he seemed to be trying very hard not to look at her. "We're used to that. So, when I really need to talk to him, I call some of his guys and they pass the message along. But they aren't picking up the phone either," he said.
"When's the last time you spoke with them?" the Professor asked.
"A couple of weeks ago, Gambit called me, asked if I'd seen Magneto," Pietro answered. "Magneto's been leaving the Acolytes written instructions for over a month, just orders on a page-"
"And they followed those orders?" the Professor asked.
"Gambit said as long as money kept going into his bank account, they kept doing what they were told. But Wanda wanted to get dinner with the old man, like we used to," he said pointedly.
"Of course," the Professor said, nodding with understanding.
"So, I called Gambit today to try and set it up, but he didn't pick up. Pyro didn't pick up. They're not answering their phones and the base is abandoned. Doesn't look like anyone's been there for a while."
"No one has seen our father since June second," Wanda interjected.
"June second," he repeated.
"You have to help us, Professor," she begged.
"I'll do what I can," he answered. "Rogue," he said, turning to look at her, "why don't you contact Max. Maybe he'll be able to shed some light on the situation," he suggested.
"Yeah, okay," Rogue sighed, as she stood.
"Who's Max?" Wanda asked as she walked over to his desk and picked up the phone.
"I'll let him introduce himself," she answered as she dialed his number before holding it to her ear.
"Yes, that would be consistent," the Professor muttered under his breath and Rogue shot him a look as Magneto scoffed in her mind. She rolled her eyes, glancing away from the Professor as she waited for Max to pick up.
On August 16th, around 8:47 pm BST, Max floated invisible in London's Tisdale Museum. He'd set off an alarm when entering the building, from a high up window, but it was quickly dismissed as a false alarm by a security guard who seemed he'd rather play solitaire in the breakroom than investigate for potential break ins. That suited Max quite well as he flew through the Museum and into the Egyptian Exhibit.
'A second guard,' he noted. The man had black hair and looked younger than the middle-aged man he'd seen in the breakroom. The one was walking about with a flashlight, actually doing his job. 'Irrelevant,' he dismissed as he surveyed the room. As long as he didn't make any noise, which he didn't plan to do, he'd be-
Why was his cell phone ringing?
Max quickly pulled it from his pocket, fumbling for a moment before he simultaneously silenced the call and checked to see who the call was from.
'The institute,' he thought as the security guard went on full alert; the flashlight swayed about frantically, the black-haired searched for the intruder, backing up against a wall as he manually tripped the alarm to call for air.
Not that they could locate him.
'Anna-Marie?' he questioned as he levitated far above the security guard's reach. 'I thought she couldn't call due to- Unless it was Charles?' he asked himself.
He considered delaying returning the call until after he'd had a chance to conclude his search, but then he felt his stomach drop remembering what happened the last time he'd missed Rogue's call.
'If Mesmero has stolen one half of the spider stone from this location, the alarm never would have been dismissed as faulty,' he reasoned. Mesmero had the ability to control, not fool or override memories. The item would have been missing the moment the puppet master released the guards from his thrall.
His logic was sound.
He just needed to get clear of the Museum and its blaring alarm. Then he'd call Rogue.
On August 16th, 3:49 pm EST, Rogue stood in the Professor's office as the call went to voicemail.
'That's weird,' she thought as she hung up the phone, readying herself to dial him again. She didn't have the chance as the phone rang. She was quick to pick it up. "Xavier Institute, Rogue speaking," she said, hoping to hear Max's voice on the other end. She picked up so quickly, she hadn't checked the incoming number.
"Rogue, there's very little time. Mesmero had taken over Magento's body. He's trying to free Apocalypse's mind as we speak," a female voice spoke, her tone urgent.
"Irene?" she asked, recognizing her foster mother's voice as she tried to absorb what she'd- 'I sent Max ta find him and now- But how could Vincent use his powers on-' Rogue asked herself before she sucked in a breath. 'Did we ever test that cap Max made?' she asked.
'No,' the copy of Magneto confirmed grimly.
"Rogue?" The Professor asked and Rogue glanced around the room in shock. "What's wrong?" he asked.
"Mesmero has Max Eisenhardt, he's tryna free Apocalypse," she muttered in disbelief.
"Oh my god," Kitty exclaimed.
"And if you don't hurry, he's going to succeed," Irene said. "You have to run!"
Rogue dropped the phone floor, before she rushed up to Pietro, reaching for his hand.
"Sorry," she muttered as her hand made contact.
Before anyone else in the room could question her, Pietro's eyes had rolled back into his head as he fell to the floor and Rogue was over two miles away from the institute, with her hood covering her head, running as fast as she could toward Tibet.
On August 16th, around 8:52 pm BST, Max floated invisible and undetected, high above the London's Tisdale Museum. He had his phone to his ear and was relieved when someone was finally answering his call; he'd tried three times now, but kept getting the busy single.
"Anna-Marie?" he asked, his voice squeaking unpleasantly with distress.
"Who is this?" Charles asked.
"It's Max Eisenhardt," he answered, adding the German accent, though it sounded different to his ears and no doubt Charles's. His voice's pitch and timbre seemingly resembled Nigthcrawler's more than the one he heard in his mind. "Who called me, you or Rogue?" he asked.
"Rogue did. She said Mesmero has you," he answered.
"What?" Max asked, confused.
"Do you know where Rogue's gone? Where she'd assumed Mesmero would take you?" Charles asked.
"Yes," he answered, sucking in a breath.
"Wher-"
Max hung up the phone, pocketing it and flew full speed toward Tibet.