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Chapter 15 of
A Simple Favor:
On May 1st, 2002, Magneto sat in his base as he reviewed the latest reports compiled by his Acolytes. Since mutant-kind emergence had gone precisely to plan, now was the time for surveillance and patience. He knew the signs that were sure to come. The anti-mutant sentiments that would rise from fear, the othering of mutants, the push for segregation, and the tragedies to follow. However, this time, unlike his childhood, he would act before genocide would be wrought upon his people.
As expected, Charles was fighting for his dream, as unrealistic as it was. But even he could acknowledge the students' admittance back to Bayville High School was a welcomed development. However, Principal Kelly's manipulation of events, resulting in the brotherhood boys' expulsion from the school, only reconfirmed his own views of the matter. Edward Kelly had thus been added to his list and frequent surveillance would be undertaken. As time moved forward the list would grow and, if need be, action would be taken.
He was considering recruiting more mutants to his roster. As it stood, the Acolytes were allocating far too much time to one target in particular, his daughter as she had not ceased her attempts to locate him. It was a problem he wouldn't be able to put off much longer. But still, there was his promise to the girl, which he intended to keep. Perhaps, he could tackle two issues at once. He might want to consider recruiting someone who could assist with his daughter's defiance.
'The question is who,' he thought as his eyes scanned over a report Gambit had provided regarding Area 51, from the communication he had intercepted. Apparently, there had been-
He called his phone to his hand and dialed the Institute's number.
"Xavier Institute, Hank speaking," Beast said.
"Good afternoon," Magneto said, adding his German accent to his speech. "Is Rogue available?" he asked.
"Would you mind holding?" he asked.
"Of course not," he replied easily.
"Thank you," the other man said. "Oh, good, Kitty, do you know where Rogue is?" he asked.
"Yeah, she's unpacking in her new room," Shadowcat answered.
"Can you get the phone to her?" he asked. "Discreetly," he added, which caused Magneto to raise an eyebrow.
"Oh, yeah, totally," she said. "Hi, Max, hold on, okay?" she said.
"Thank you," he said into the phone.
After a brief pause, he heard a knock on a door before Rogue asked, "Who's there?" Which he found strange, the girls were roommates. Why would Shadowcat have to ask permission to enter her own room?
"Hey, Rogue," Shadowcat said before he heard a door open. "Max's on the phone for you," Shadowcat said.
"Thanks," Rogue said, her tone uneasy. "Hmm, did anyone else see-"
"Only me and Mr. McCoy know he called," Shadowcat said. "Like, what's the Professor's problem with Max anyway?" she asked.
'Damn it,' he thought as he pinched the bridge of his nose. Wonderful, Charles wasn't convinced.
"It's complicated and I don't really wanna get into it right now," she said. "But seriously, thanks for bringing the phone up," she said.
"Yeah, no biggie," she said before he heard the door close. Magneto listened as he heard Rogue take a deep breath as if she was bracing herself for the coming conversation.
"Hey, Max," she said into the phone a moment later.
"Are you alright?" he asked, concerned.
"Yes, sir," she answered.
"Are you in any type of danger?" he asked.
"I mean, I don't think so. It's more of an annoyance than anything," she said dryly.
"Do you require any assistance contending with this annoyance?" he asked.
"I really wish you hadn't overheard Kitty," she said.
"You are not responsible for my discovery," he said.
"I could've interrupted her, or something," she said.
"Rogue, you're not at fault," he restated strongly. "And something is clearly bothering you. My dear, what hadn't you told me?" he asked.
"I-" she said before she let out a long sigh. "Someone's been trying to get into my head. I can feel it," she said.
"And because you assume it, Charles, you're hesitant to comment," he said.
"I mean, who else would it be?" she asked.
"A fair point. Charles has always been stubborn. Once convinced of something very little could sway his mind to the contrary," he said.
"Said the pot about the kettle," she said, he could hear the slight smile in her voice and let out a chuckle in response.
"I suppose that's true," he mused. "To clarify, dear, you don't know for a fact that it's Charles?" he asked.
"Technically, no," she answered.
"Then I'm free to ask, how often are these attacks plaguing you?"
"It's random," she said.
"What's the frequency per day?" he asked.
"Depends on the day. Sometimes it's none, sometimes it's like five or six times in a row," she said.
"And the labyrinth has held?" he asked.
"Yes, sir," she asked promptly.
"Then I agree, it's merely an annoyance," he said.
"Yeah, I figured you say that," she said.
"And should there be any development that compromises your ability to adhere to our agreement, you'll bring those to my attention?" he asked.
"Yes, sir," she said.
"Good girl," he said.
"So, how are you?" she asked, shifting the conversation away from her.
"I'm fine," he said pleasantly.
"Did you finish Dracula?" she asked.
"Not yet," he admitted.
"'Cause you're busy or cause you don't like it?" she asked.
"The former, I assure you," he said. "Are you enjoying Les Misérables?"
"Yeah, I'm in the middle of volume two," she said.
"I'm almost surprised you haven't finished it already?" he said.
"I've been reading a couple of chapters a night before I go to bed," she answered.
"Thoughts?" he asked.
"Are you ever gonna recommend a book that doesn't have a man being wrongly imprisoned?" she asked.
"Says the girl whose favorite book involves a man being held captive by a vampire," he countered. She let out a snort at that, which prompted him to chuckle. "Poor Jonathan Harker," he continued. "A bright young individual with their entire life ahead of them, who, despite several warnings of the dangers to come, found themselves lured into a false sense of security by the Count's civil deposition and seemingly endless wisdom. The poor child was doomed as soon as they set foot in the monster's domain," he said, hinting, curious if she saw the parallels.
"Yeah, but the reason Jonathan didn't survive was 'cause all of the Count's posturing was fake. If Dracula actually was the polite gentleman he pretended to be Jonathan probably would've made it home unscathed," she said. He found himself grinning at her reply.
"And a little wiser, perhaps?" he asked.
"Definitely," she smiled. "And with the size of that library? Probably would've had a few decent recommendations for his trouble," she added before he pulled his head back and let out a laugh.
"Oh, would he have shipped a novel or two back to London?" he chuckled.
"Yeah, with his given name on the package for all the world to see," she laughed. "And he could've just escorted Jonathan back home. He de-aged himself, so it wouldn't've been weird at all," she said.
"Dracula did de-age himself, didn't he?" he asked with a smirk. There was the briefest of pauses before they both started to laugh again. "Let me know once you've finished, I'll think of a suitable suggestion. No false imprisonments," he promised.
"Okay," she smiled. "So, if you haven't finished the novel, why'd ya call?" she asked.
"With a warning I'm afraid," he said, his tone turning serious. "Mystique escaped from Area fifty-one," he said.
"When?" she asked as all amusement left her voice.
"Yesterday morning," he answered.
"Hmm, I gotta go," she said, with a slight panic in her voice.
"Is everything alright?" he asked.
"I- hmm, I ain't sure and I can't talk to you about it," she said.
"Understood," he said. "If Risty Wilde reemerges, call me immediately," he ordered.
"Yes, sir," she said. "And thank you, Max," she said.
"You're welcome, Anna-Marie," he said before she promptly hung up the phone.
On May 1st, 2002, Rogue ran around the institute, searching for Jean. She couldn't go to the Professor about this. She knew that. Jean was her best bet to check about-
"Jean, hey," Rogue said as she happened upon her in the library.
"Rogue, are you okay?" she asked.
"Yeah, I just-" she said before she took a short breath. "Any word from Scott?" she asked.
"Not yet," Jean answered, shaking her head, as she hugged her arms around herself.
"Have ya checked in with the Masters? I mean- did we ever find out why they couldn't go get Alex?" she asked.
"I hadn't spoken with them," she said.
"Did Scott?" she asked.
"I don't think so," Jean said.
"Did the Professor?" she asked.
"I don't- I don't know," she said.
"Jean, please tell me, Scott didn't fly outta the country alone based on a single phone call. Some mutants alter their voices. We gotta be more careful than that," she said.
"I- I'll go call them right now," Jean said.
"Okay," Rogue said before she watched her rush out of the room. She let out a sigh as she fought the urge to go after her. If she was right, if Mystique had- No, she couldn't be anywhere near this. 'Just go back to unpacking your room,' she told herself.
Her single room, with no one else but her in it. She didn't know how to feel about that. On the one hand, she wasn't going to miss Kitty's snoring or late-night phone calls. But on the other hand, she didn't understand the Professor's motivation. Was he giving her space or isolating her from the others?
Would it be easier to break the maze if he could come into her room at night and sit directly next to her during his attempts while she was sleeping? Then again she had felt him trying while she was in class. Didn't he have anything better to do?
All of her questions were driving her crazy and were just making her angrier and angrier. All she really wanted to do was go and just ask him outright, but she couldn't do that. If she did, she may as well admit that Max was exactly who he thought he was.
'Just ignore it,' she told herself for the countless time.
Even Magneto didn't think it was anything to worry about and at least he was now aware of her suspicions. If something changed she would call him and- Three favors. She could do a lot with that.
Okay, she was okay.
On May 3rd, 2002, Magneto sat in his base reading the report Pryo had compiled based on the incident in Mexico earlier in the week. A mutant teenager had blown the roof, off of a hospital and caused other damage to the city due to a mysterious red bean. The boy's guardian had already issued an apology to the hospital and written a check to fix the damages. No names had been disclosed, but it hadn't taken him long to put two-and-two together.
Mystique was out and about and had vengeance on her mind. It seemed she had targeted Cyclops first, but his concern was her refocusing her efforts on him. Or worse, reconnecting with Wanda to utilize her as a weapon against him once again. It was time, this needed to be dealt with. And after much deliberation, he had decided how. A trip to Italy was in order.