Fractals

Fractals Chapter Fifty One (NC-17)
Disclaimers Apply

A/N Goddess Foxfeather, Queen of Mad Plotbunnies, BUSIEST WOMAN ALIVE ™, Prophetic Muse, Hamster Witch and Uberbeta… Hello, my freaky darlings… ;) InterNutter, TC, Maxwell Pink and Dracena are loverly and wondermous for archiving/hosting! :) ProPhile: Two or three chapters then more smut. Morgan: *pouts* Damn, I missed you… Readers/Reviewers: *pokes with pokey stick * Hmmm. Well, thanks for reading and reviewing as you get the chance! The Killer Kitties ™ appreciate it too… it keeps them from gnawing on the ducks too much.

Professor Xavier could not remember a time in his life when his head had hurt this much, but he would be damned if he showed it. The collar was still there but it had shocked him once, hard, and then become nothing more than a heavy weight around his neck. The hum of energy which has moved like a living thing around and around his neck for such a long time was gone, leaving him feeling as if he were waiting for a leash to be snapped to the device and Magneto to order him “walkies.” He pressed his lips together and remained outwardly impassive as his old friend spoke sotto voce to someone on the phone in a mixture of Polish and English. _Bad form to not practice the conjugations of Polish verbs for a decade, _ he lamented idly. “If you’re quite finished,” the Professor said mildly as Magento replaced the receiver on it’s cradle, “I’m ready to leave now.”
Magneto raised a brow. “You honestly can’t expect me to believe you think I’m as simple as that,” he chided, a faint smile tugging the corner of his lips as he sat on the edge of his desk, folding his arms.
“It was worth a try. Sometimes the best solutions are the simplest,” Professor Xavier smiled. “At the risk of this scheme becoming more baroque than it is already, and in the interest of our health—we’re not getting any younger , you know—why don’t you just explain to me in layman’s terms what your wicked plot is this time?” He rolled backwards a few feet to better look Magneto in the eye. “And please, make it quick. I have things I need to attend to back at the Institute.”
“You always were the optimist, Charles. You don’t understand how much work goes into running an evil empire. There’s meetings to plan, organizations to overthrow, people to kill… It’s complex.”1
Professor Xavier raised a brow in acknowledgement of what he knew was the other man’s attempt at humor. “Then do be a dear and try not to drag the rest of us in, won’t you?”
Magneto smiled tightly. “I’ll ignore the comment about my planning resulting in baroque methods and instead inform you as kindly as possible, which, if you know me as I am sure you do, is not too kindly at all, that your puppy dogs have followed you, Charles, and I’m afraid they’ve had to be kenneled.”
There was a long silence before Professor Xavier spoke. “Eric, I know you’re perfectly fluent in English, but it would serve you well to pick up a book on metaphor sometime.”
Magneto’s face darkened perceptibly before he rejoined, snappishly, “Your students with less sense than God gave a goose are in holding.” Despite his best efforts, a glimmer of surprise and fear showed on Professor Xavier’s face for a split second, but it was enough. Magneto’s smile widened and he leaned back, resting his palms on the desk behind him. “Would you like to see? Or shall it be a surprise on Friday? You’re free to go, by the bye. Your collar has been turned off.”
Professor Xavier folded his hands tightly in his lap. “I’ll go with my students and Emma. Show them to me.”
He smirked, a definite smugness to his features, as he tapped a keypad set into his desk, not even glancing behind him to see what he was doing. A small, silvery screen rose from the desk itself and he turned it to face Professor Xavier. “Would you like to see the entire disgraceful scene or just their current conditions?”
“No act of bravery is ever disgraceful. Then, I don’t suppose you’d know about that, would you?” the Professor asked archly. “Their current conditions,” he added before Magneto could respond. He watched as the screen shimmered faintly, then resolved into an image of several kennel-sized enclosures, large enough to about three people comfortably but each containing only one. Professor Xavier felt his jaw tighten in unbidden reaction to the images.
“They should have received more instruction on subversion and stealth,” he remarked. He was greatly enjoying watching the struggle of emotions on his old friend’s face but somewhere inside, a certain ancient respect and affection niggled, making a very dull flush of guilt twinge along the back of his neck. Clearing his throat, he continued, “Toad and the one with the terribly loud voice were found a short distance from here. Apparently, they used some sort of GPS device to find the Blackbird. Which, by the way, is in my hangar.”
Professor Xavier raised a brow again. “How kind of you. I’m sure Scott will appreciate you keeping it bird-dropping free for him when next he cleans it.” His fingers were itching to close around Magneto’s throat and he was near desperate to exert mental influence over the man, but he knew it would be folly to even attempt it. “And the others?”
“…can tell you themselves,” he purred, switching off the monitor. “You have a choice. Your restraint device is off. You know the options.”
“No, I don’t,” he corrected. “All I know is how you are. If I leave, you will take that as carte blanche to use my charges to meet your own ends. If I stay…” he spread his hands and smiled tightly, “I’m sure you’ll find some way to make it memorable.”
Magneto laughed shortly. “You and your kind are always so predictable. The problem with leading such…clean and honorable lives… is that honor is a very flexible notion.” He pushed away from the desk and paced towards the door to the old study. “Get some rest, Charles. I’ll come for your decision at noon.”
Professor Xavier waited until the door clicked closed before venting a harsh breath. “Well, damn.”

A/N Jubilee in the next chapter, and finally some closure begins… kind of.

1 Vague riff on The Princess Bride scene where Prince Humperdink is lamenting how difficult it is to plan his wife’s murder and frame Guilder at the same time.