Moments like these were his favorite, just because they were so rare. Especially since the Professor was gone now. Somehow that meant he was in charge of the Institute, not to mention responsible for everything and everyone in it. It wasn’t a position he particularly enjoyed, but no one else wanted to step up to the plate. So times when it was just him and a bike that could use a little bit more supping up he enjoyed his garage haven. No sounds except for the clank of a tool hitting the ground, no questions, no kids, nothing but him and what Jean like to call his big boy toys. Everyone in the mansion understood the unspoken rule: when he was in here he was not to be messed with.
So when the door from the kitchen leading into his haven dared to squeak open he sent it a menacing glare.
Kitty winced, apolitically shrugging her shoulders. “I’m like totally sorry but there’s a call for you.”
“Take a message,” he snapped, turning his attention back to the bike to signal the discussion was over. And that she should leave. He knew she would catch the hint; Katherine Pryde was the brightest student at the Institute.
“I told him that you were like busy and that you’d say that,” she said with her hands on her hips, “but he said it was important and like, you’d want to talk to him.”
He sighed and threw his wrench into the tool box. All his tools yelled in distress. “Who is it?”
The small, sprite-like girl shrugged again. “Didn’t say. I can tell him to call back if you want.”
“No, it’s alright.” He knew when to admit defeat. Duty called it seemed. “I’ll take it in the Professor’s office.”
The Professor’s Office. That’s what everyone still called it, even though the Professor hadn’t been in there for the better part of three years. He supposed it was his office now but he only used to keep confidential records there and when he need to meet with outsiders coming to the school. Or if he needed to take a phone call that was evidently of the highest importance.
He went around to the back of the desk. There was no chair there still. He’d rather talk standing up anyway. “Hello?”
“Hello to you, sir.”
His jaw tightened at the heavy, egotistical voice. “What the hell do you want, Magneto?”
“Language, young one. I know Xavier taught you better manners than that. As his successor you sully his good name with such behavior.”
The wood edge of the desk under his palm creaked and groaned under his grip. “I will ask one more time before I hang this phone up. What the hell do you want?”
A cold distant laugh carried through the line, the desk took more abuse. “Direct. Alright, if you want to do this without niceties that’s quite fine with me. I want Cerebro.”
It was his turn to laugh. “You’ve got to be joking, right? Not only no, but hell no.”
“I’m afraid I am not asking your permission, young man. I am telling you. With Charles gone it belongs more to me than to you. You were still in your filthy human mother’s womb when Charles and I built it. You have no right to deny it to me.”
“And yet I am.” He shook his head, surprised at the gall of the guy. “I’m not giving a power hungry maniac a way to be even more powerful. Sorry you wasted your time. Please feel free to never call here again, Eric.”
“I’ve wasted nothing. You will give me Cerebro.”
The headache was rapidly growing in his right temple, slowly spreading across his forehead. “Let’s hear your ‘or less’ and be done with this. I have a lot of things to do today.”
“Very well. Have you taken attendance yet today? It’s such a big school you have there.”
He narrowed his eyes. “What are you talking about? Just come out with it.”
“I have a young lady here,” the cold voice went on. “She would like to speak to you.”
His heart stilled for just a second, but he tried to remember to remain calm. That was until he heard his name.
“Scott! Scott, please----!”
His stomach dropped at the hysterical southern voice choking out his name. He couldn’t tell which one of them was in more pain at that moment.
“I think that’s quite enough,” the old man came back through. “You get the jest, don’t you, young man?”
~Jean! Jean!~ He ripped open the telepathic link with his wife.
~Scott? Dear, what is it, you’re hurting my--- ~
~Locate Rogue. I have to know where she is now!~
“Mr. Summers?” Magneto sneered. “This is how things will happen. You will have Cerebro dismantled by the end of next week. Do not damage it. There will be a barge docked at New York harbor. You will load it on there. I will call you with the girl’s location afterwards.”
He saw red, even with his eyes clenched shut. “How do I know that’s not just Mystique?”
~Scott-- ~
“You don’t. You are welcome to not show up on the 23rd, young man, if you so choose.”
~Scott, I can’t find her anywhere. Jubilee said she hasn’t seen her since this morning. She’s not in the mansion. What’s going on?”
“I’m sure we can use the girl for something if you do not want her.”
Voices bounced at him from every direction. And each word was fueling the anger in him even more. Slamming his hand down onto the desk was a poor release compared to opening his visor. But without Magneto standing in front of him it was the best he could do.
It didn’t sound like his voice when he was finally able to speak. “If you hurt her, I swear to God I will--”
“It’s a bit late for that kind of talk and pointless at any rate. You should be proud of her, young man. She’s quite the little fighter.”
Magneto’s laughing voice tore through his chest, his heart gripping in even more pain. He heard the phone cracking in his hand. “Xavier is not around any more to save you, Magneto. Things are different. I will find you after this and I will kill you.” He didn’t know who was speaking through him. He could still faintly hear Rogue in the background. He didn’t disagree with any of it.
“Perhaps,” Magneto said softly. The line went dead.
The phone stayed against his ear even though he only heard static.
“Scott…”
His eyes came up. Jean and Ororo were standing in the doorway, clutching at each other’s hands. Both of them were looking at him with searching eyes, waiting for orders, an expression that everyone in the school always looked at him like, except now they were simmering with confusion and fear. He took a deep breath, trying to reign in his anger and careful replaced the phone on its cradle.
“It was Magneto. He has Rogue,” he explained. “He wants Cerebro.”
“I’ll get everyone on it right away,” the weather Goddess said. “How long did he give us?”
He shook his head, the muscle in his jaw jumping beneath the skin. “No. We’re not giving it to him.”
“Scott,” Jean stepped forward, her eyebrows clenched together. “He has Rogue. We can’t let him….we have to give him what he wants. He’ll have no qualms against--”
“I know, Jean,” he snapped, yelling at her as he pounded the desk again. Both women flinched and he swore at himself. “I know. But I can’t sacrifice the whole damn world either, can I?”
Her clear mint green eyes soften. It only made him feel even more like shit.
“What are we going to do then, Scott?” Ororo asked.
He was really tired of people asking him that. More so he was sick of feeling the weight of the world quite literally resting on his shoulders. A world that hated him since birth and now he had no choice but put it in front of someone very important to him, it would be want the Professor wanted.
But he was going to be damned before he would sacrifice her for the damn stupid war they found themselves in. “We use Cerebro, find out where she is. And we go in and get her.”
Jean’s face went white; it didn’t go unnoticed by him. “We can’t. I’m sorry. Rogue’s mutation—there’s too many erratic thought patterns in her mind, there’s no way I could pin point her.”
He came out from behind the desk, stopping in front of his wife. Gently he took her face in his hands and pulled her head foreword to gently drop of kiss on her forehead. “Just try, please?”
She nodded and gave him a forced smile. Always behind him and supporting his leadership, he gave her what she hoped was a reassuring smile of his own before gently touching his lips to hers. They pulled apart, both of them looking at the white hair woman in the room. She didn’t look particularly impressed. Jean balked first, nodded and moving towards the door. “I’ll get on it now.”
Ororo watched her leave, gently closing the door behind her. When she was gone she turned back to Scott, crossing her arms over her chest. “She won’t find her. Professor Xavier could never use Cerebro on Rogue. Jean doesn’t have a chance.”
“She might,” Scott countered.
The Goddess pursed her lips at him. He sighed; she was the only one left that ever challenged his default authority. It meant a lot to him. “We have to give him Cerebro, Scott. We don’t have any other options.”
He swore. Under his breath, he never did out loud in front of Ororo or the children. It was to protect the children and help them grow up straight and because the Goddess hated it and would fry his ass if she heard it.
“Not exactly,” he said reluctantly, hanging his head. He took a deep breath then looked up at her again. She watched him expectantly.
“Find a way to get in touch with Wolverine.”
Her eyes went wide at his words, he couldn’t blame her.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
I don't know what's wrong with me. This is really all Ara's fault. She put the idea in my head. I put 'general' because I have no idea what this thing is gonna do yet.