"It was Mystique."
Scott reacted almost instantly.
Mystique could transform into anyone she had seen and could even gain fragments of their recent memories.
As Magneto's most trusted right hand, if she had personally moved to force Rogue out of the school, it would have been ridiculously easy.
"Don't worry, Bobby. We'll bring Rogue back."
After ending the transmission, everyone's face had turned grim.
Rogue absolutely could not fall into Magneto's hands.
New York had a population in the tens of millions. If all of them were turned into mutants, the chaos and unrest that followed would be unimaginable.
And what if Magneto's ambition extended beyond just New York City?
When that time came, it would still be the weaker mutants who bore humanity's wrath.
"Professor?"
"I'm going to Cerebro."
The Professor's gentle voice carried an unusual steadiness, easily calming the anxiety in everyone's hearts.
"You can find Rogue with that?"
Inside the enormous circular chamber, Logan curiously looked around at everything.
"With it, I can see every mutant in the world."
The Professor settled the helmet onto his head with practiced ease. "Including Fenris getting lost in Canada, and you almost getting knocked unconscious by Victor."
Logan's mouth twitched. "...Enough."
As Cerebro activated, everything around them gradually dimmed. Soon, one red phantom after another began to appear.
The image rapidly zoomed in, and Rogue's figure came into view.
"She's at the station to the west."
The Professor removed the helmet. "Scott. Ororo. You two go bring her back."
"I'm going too," Logan said.
"This time Fenris won't be there to save you."
Scott mocked him without mercy.
Logan glanced at Jean beside him and spread his hands. "Fine. Then I won't go."
"Oh, get over here."
Watching the three of them rush out in a hurry, the Professor tilted his head slightly. Jean immediately understood, pulled out a small communicator, and dialed.
"Who is it?"
After a long moment, Fenris's lazy voice came through.
"How have the past few days been, Fenris?"
Charles asked pleasantly.
"Not bad. A lot more comfortable than driving." Fenris stretched. "Would've been even better if I'd heard Jean's voice instead."
"Haha."
The Professor laughed, and Jean took the cue.
"Fenris, can you come to the school? We've run into some trouble."
"Rogue got taken by Magneto?"
Fenris asked it almost casually.
Jean stiffened in shock. "How do you know that?"
The information had just been uncovered through Professor X's painstaking telepathic search, and Rogue's departure had only happened a short while ago. How could Fenris, all the way out there, possibly know?
"Oh, after I caught Sabretooth, I beat him up a little and found out."
Fenris chuckled. "He was pretty stubborn at first, but after I knocked him out seven or eight times, he started talking."
"Can you come here?" Jean asked. "We need you right now."
Beep, beep...
Listening to the dead line, Jean looked utterly bewildered.
"Professor, Fenris, he...?"
"It's fine."
The Professor smiled faintly and wheeled himself upstairs to the office. "Come on. Let's wait for good news from Scott."
A short while later, there was a knock at the door, and Fenris strolled into the office at an unhurried pace.
"Hungry?"
The Professor smiled.
"Not really."
Fenris found a spot and casually sprawled down. "You don't need me to help?"
"The three of them should be enough."
The Professor did not appear flustered in the slightest.
With Sabretooth already in their custody, Magneto's side had limited manpower. They should not have had too much trouble dealing with it.
"Piece against piece, general against general. The moment Magneto makes a move, those three together still won't be enough. Especially Logan."
Fenris did not seem concerned and casually turned on the television in the office.
He could not remember the original plot very clearly, but in his memory, Magneto's plans had never successfully worked out even once.
Unlike Jean, who was fretting anxiously off to the side, Fenris, who already had a rough idea of the outcome, was far calmer.
"As America's former gateway for immigrants, Ellis Island is once again becoming the center of world attention thanks to the upcoming United Nations summit to be held there."
"Senior leaders from various nations will gather there to discuss the economy, technology, and the impact mutants are having on the world. Many lawmakers believe the top priority is reaching a consensus on mutant regulation as soon as possible..."
The broadcast echoed through the office, making the already restless Jean even more uneasy.
"Don't be anxious. Trust them."
The Professor gently comforted her.
"A conference aimed at mutants..."
Fenris, on the other hand, found it all fascinating. "Isn't that basically telling mutants, come over here and hit me?"
At that, the Professor turned to look at him.
"So you also think these people are hateful?"
"Hateful? Not really. As long as they don't provoke me in front of me, I don't care."
The first half of Fenris's answer made the Professor nod gently.
"But..." Fenris changed tone. "The ones who hurt me before, people like Stryker, that's different."
"Mm."
The Professor still only nodded calmly and said nothing more.
Fenris was a little surprised that the Professor did not try to persuade him otherwise. But then, remembering that Charles himself had been the kind of man to throw down without hesitation when he was younger, it suddenly seemed reasonable.
Time passed bit by bit as they waited. As the sky gradually darkened, the communicator sitting on the desk finally rang.
Jean's face lit up. The device flew through the air and dropped straight into her hand.
"Professor, we failed."
Ororo's dejected voice came through.
"What happened? What went wrong?" Jean asked urgently. "You're not hurt, are you?"
"We're not hurt."
Scott took the communicator and got straight to the point.
"We thought that with Sabretooth missing from Magneto's side, dealing with them shouldn't be a problem."
"But just when we started gaining the upper hand, a red mutant who can teleport instantly suddenly appeared, along with a man who can control hurricanes."
"Logan found Rogue first, but he had absolutely no ability to resist in front of Magneto..."
"Sigh."
A long sigh broke the air, and for a moment, the office fell into silence as well.
"Professor, do you know those two mutants?" Logan asked through the communicator.
Being handled so easily by Magneto had clearly dealt him a blow.
"I do. They're both old friends. I didn't expect them to show up too."
There was a trace of remembrance in the Professor's eyes. He gave the order without hesitation.
"Jean, Fenris, come with me to Westchester Station."
"Professor, looks like someone's infiltrated the school."
Fenris's ears twitched, and he suddenly looked at Charles with a strange expression. "They're in your Cerebro chamber right now."
"Hm?"
The Professor frowned and immediately recognized who it was.
"I need you to stop her. Jean and I will leave first."
"Professor, why not just control her directly?"
With powerful enemies ahead of them, the Professor was actually leaving Fenris, one of their strongest fighters, behind at the school. Jean was anxious beyond words and could not understand his decision.
"Don't ask, Jean. Let's go."
The Professor let out a helpless sigh. Before leaving, he turned to Fenris and warned him again and again.
"Do not hurt her."
"Understood."
Fenris grinned.
A little sister type. He got it.