All of a sudden Derek’s head snapped up from his computer and he started to scan the room around him. Then he got up and left the room. Daren Karst decided it might be a good idea to follow.

***

Jean wasn’t impressed. The guys decided she’d be the best choice to scan the police station. Not that there was anyone else to do it but Logan’s quip about women being less threatening got under her skin. Just because he was probably born in the 1800’s doesn’t mean he has to act like it. Putting a clamp on the flare of emotion, she stepped into the station and latched on to the first officer she could find.

"Excuse me, do you know where I’d go to report a robbery? My hotel room was broken into and they took my wallet and some of my jewelry too." Putting on a soft voice, allowing a few crocodile tears to form in her eyes, the guy became putty in her hands. Well, there might have been something about that quip of Logan’s after all and she was gonna use it to the best of her abilities. Briefly scanning every one she could reach, not digging deep, but simply allowing herself to pick up the stray thoughts bouncing around, she didn’t pick much up. Someone was mad at his wife. There was a mind that was particularly dark, thinking thoughts of vengeance against an imagined wrong. But so far not much in the way of thoughts about mutants or anti-mutant cults.

Following the young man into the hive of activity some thought of as the bull pen, she sat down and started to give the imagined details of the supposed robbery, her mind still actively scanning the room. Bingo! There was a guy typing away at a computer upstairs, she focused a tendril of thought on him. He was thinking about avoiding the Captain, but also his thoughts scrolled over what he was typing, information about the cult called Humanity’s Chance. Keeping a thought on him, she fanned out to the people around him, trying to see who else might be involved There was a guy by a filing cabinet, with thoughts along a similar line, avoiding the captain and a bit on the mutant group, the X-Men. Oh crap, how had they made the connection?

Uh-oh. One of those guys was a bloody mutant! And an empath. He sensed the scan and now he was coming down the stairs. Oh Shit. Quickly shielding herself and setting up as calm a façade as she could, she continued to relate the details of what was in her ‘stolen’ wallet, and then the jewelry that was ‘taken’.

A tall man entered through a door off to the side, quickly glancing over the room then more calmly looking at all the people there, staring into them as if to try and find the source of the scan that way. Having set up a mental shield, overlaid with the normal mental babble she didn’t think he could tell she was a mutant, a telepath or the fact that she conducted the scan, but he did look at her for a bit longer than the others. A few seconds after the tall, rather well built man entered, another shorter man came in. The short guy looked at the tall guy, looked over the room, paused when he saw her and then continued looking over the rest of the room as well. Oh great, she thought. Just what I need, I think they’re on to me.

***

Karst came in behind him, nudged him in the ribs and asked him what the hell was going on. Since he didn’t know exactly, he didn’t really say anything. It would be easier to explain later, when everybody wasn’t staring at them. Daren started to look around as well, perhaps trying to figure out what his partner was looking for when he also paused on the red head giving a statement. So maybe he wasn’t imagining things.

"So who do you think she is?" Karst was curious to know if his partner had figured out who she was.

"I’m not sure" Heading back to their desks, they sat down and traded info. "I felt a rather professional mind scan, so I head downstairs to see if I could get a visual on the person. She looked familiar, but I’m not sure from where."

Karst punched in few words on his computer and called up a picture of the young lady except this time she was in yellow and blue spandex tights and her hair pulled back. Turning the screen around he showed it to O’Malley. "She’s one of the X-men. A telekinetic. I guess she could also be a telepath."

"So is she hunting Charity and if so why? If Charity is involved with the X-men, why are they looking for her? If she’s not, what was she doing a month ago with them?" O’Malley was starting to get some of the questions he thought answered running back around in his head.

"I don’t know, but if this Phoenix chick was doing a scan, they must have traced our inquires back here. I don’t think this is a good thing. Of course, if we could maybe go talk to them. . . " Karst let the thought trail off. These X-Men would know a lot about this girl and the girl would know a lot about the HC and maybe even the drug connections. O’Malley’s mind was also spinning out possibilities. The girl needed help, obvious she was in something deep.

The two men jumped up at the same time to see if they could still catch the person they’d identified as the Phoenix.

***

Jean finished her statement and looked over to where the two detectives (they weren’t in a uniform, so she guessed) were standing.

"Who are those two?" Keeping the voice neutral, she hoped she wasn’t over playing her hand. But asking a question was a lot easier than prying a fact out of a mind, not to mention more ethical.

The officer she was talking to swung his head around just in time to catch the backs of detectives O’Malley and Karst with disgust. "Oh nobody important. Don’t worry about it. Any way, just to go over your statement again, you said a gold necklace with the initials JS was taken …"

Having picked their names off the surface of his mind, she let the young looking officer rattle over her list of 'stolen' items, waited patiently for him to finish, then grabbed her purse, and left the station.

***

Heading back to the hotel they were staying at, Jean opened the door and plopped down on the bed next to her husband.

"How’d it go?"

"Not to bad, I got the names of the detectives that are investigating, but one of them was an empath and he noticed me. They’re trailing me right now and should be here in a few minutes." Crawling over to him she snuggled up next to him and ran a hand seductively over his chest, making slow circles before digging in and tickling him. Cyke yelped and abruptly jumped up off the bed.

"Now, now, kids, no jumpin on de bed now."

"Wha’s wrong Cyke, col’ feet" Logan and Gambit walked in the room giving suggestive glances at the couple. Those two still acted like newlyweds the minute you got them out of the mansion.

"My feet are none of your business. We’ve got the beginning of a lead though. Give it a few more minutes and we should have more."

"Why." Logan, the man of many words.

"Because the two detectives investigating Charity are following me. They should be here in about three minutes."

***

"Tell me again why we’re doing this Karst?"

"Because this is the only lead we have left except for those grandparents and you haven’t found anything out about them."

"So what are we gonna do, barge in there and arrest her. Not to mention whoever happens to be with her. Probably all Alpha class mutants," Daren grumbled. By this time they were at the hotel, and just about right outside the door of the woman they’d followed. "This is insane."

Karst had his hand up to knock on the door, but it was pulled open first. O’Malley wasn’t too happy to see the face that greeted him. The last time he’d seen it was just before he was knocked out by the fist that went with the face.

***

A few minutes had passed and the four people in the room waited patiently for the two detectives to arrive. Some voices started approaching the door and then Logan growled. Why is Logan growling? Jean thought. Normally he waits till the bad guys are in the room.

Logan went over to the door, pulled it open, grabbed the tall detective by the throat and dragged him in. Gambit got a look at the guy and his eyes started to flare and Scott, once he saw the guy turned very red, walked over to him.

"Logan, put him down" Logan complied and then Scott slugged him. SCOTT, slugged him. This was not good.

"You know Derek I really gotta stop taking you places. You keep getting decked." A short man walked into the open door. Looking over the people who were standing around the now prone figure of O’Malley on the floor, he began introductions.

"Obviously some of you have met Detective O’Malley before and I’m Detective Daren Karst." Flashing his badge at the group, he continued on. "Whatever your beef with Wonder boy here, it will have to wait, though. Since the lovely lady Phoenix here scanned us, we decided to find out exactly why."

So far nobody was being talkative. O’Malley had managed to drag himself off the floor, and stood glaring at the four impassive faces in front of him. Karst looked over them and tried to figure out what four of the X-men where doing here. Although it was fairly obvious that it had something to do with the girl. The three men stood together glaring at the two detectives, while Jean scanned them to check for hostile intentions.

^Scott^

^What^ Her husband was still mad at the detectives in front of her and she really didn’t have much of an idea why. Actually, it was just the one detective. Wait a second, didn’t Detective Karst say the other guy’s name was Derek?

^That’s the guy from the bar incident, isn’t he?^

^Yes, the low down opportunistic bastard.^

^Um, Scott, I think you should know, the guy is an Empath.^

^SO?!^ Sometimes men can be so stupid.

^She was broadcasting strong emotions that night. I don’t think he could help it.^

^Oh he was. . . ^

^He was probably as out of it as she was by the time you got there and not responsible for his actions.^

^oh.^

^Be nice to him. I think he wants to help.^

This conversation took place in a heart beat and Scott began to soften a little. Jean stepped forward and broke the silence that had developed.

"Logan, back off." The short man backed off a little, but still didn’t look happy. Not letting this deter her, she continues on. "Do you know what happened to Charity?"

Karst glanced over at his partner. "They don’t waste a lot of chit chat do they."

O’Malley looked over at the woman from the station, known as Phoenix. "She was involved in an incident and then disappeared. The FBI are looking for her in regards to a case they’re pursing against her father." The Phoenix was a telepath, no sense in lying. And they seem a little over protective, so I don’t think they want to hurt her.

"What you wan’ wid her?" Gambit always did cut to the chase. Logan was still growling in the back of his throat.

O’Malley looked straight at them and said "She looked like she could use someone on her side. The FBI just want to use her against her father and I didn’t think the X-Men protected members of Humanity’s Chance, even if they are a mutant."

"Give us some credit Detective" Jean jumped in, her tone harsh, and condemning. "She needed help and we gave it. Don’t judge us on a few moments acquaintance."

"Well, now that we’ve managed to insult each other and vent a little frustration, why don’t we go back to the beginning and try not to step on each other’s toes again." Karst was getting tired of everyone trying to out posture everyone else. They were gonna be here all day at this rate. "Hi, I’m Detective Karst and this is Detective O’Malley, from Cedar Rapids PD. We’d like to ask your help with a little problem that came up. Do you think you could help us with this?" It pays to read those books that circulate the department. The last one was how to make friends and influence people. O’Malley must have skipped over that one.

^Are they sincere Jean?^ Scott wasn’t sure he wanted to trust these two, but Charity still hadn’t shown up at her moms place which makes her missing for four days now. It should only have taken her about two to get there from here.

^As far as I can tell.^

"Very well then." The man with red sunglasses, Karst had tagged as Cyclops stepped forward, offering a bit of an olive branch. "This is Phoenix, Wolverine is growling in the corner, and Gambit is the one still glaring at you. I’m Cyclops. Tell us what you know and we’ll tell you what we know." Part of it any way.

***

Jean had stayed at the hotel feeling a little under the weather so she’d volunteered to man the phone in the others' absence. It was early Saturday afternoon and Scott and the others were off checking up on the Police database. The two groups had fallen into an uneasy alliance, but it seemed to be holding for now. As long as Logan didn’t try to vivisect Detective O’Malley, everything should go okay. Having taken Logan aside and explain the poor guys situation to him, she still had shivers running up and down her spine. The last time she’d seen Logan like that was the time he’d caught Jubilee and Everett necking. It wasn’t a pretty sight.

It was interesting the roles the X-Men had fell into regarding Charity. Scott was like a guardian, not quite a father, but something similar, Gambit, a mischievous brother, Logan, an older brother, Rogue, a sister, Charles, a mentor, Storm, a teacher, and her? What sort of role did she play in Charity’s life. She cared about the girl, but there has never seemed to be much of a bond between the two. She felt like an aunt. The one who comes to visit once a year at Christmas. This is depressing she thought. So she didn’t have the closest relationship to Charity. Part of it is because of what Scott had gone through just after she showed up. His dreams had been tortured for days, remembering the time he’d killed Jason’s father. She didn’t even know the man’s name. I don’t think Scott does either. Well, her thought’s were certainly not up beat today.

Flicking on the TV she tried to empty her mind and tried to keep her stomach from playing havoc with her last meal. She didn’t particularly feel like being revisited by the scrambled eggs and hashbrowns from this morning. She stared at the screen watch two guys messing around with an antique dressing table, wondering why she had come. True she’d been stuck playing secretary for Xaviar, going with him on the latest round of conferences and political happenings. Jean had no idea how the man found a chance to breath and yet he always had time for anyone who wanted to talk. If he was in town.

She was starting to feel, she didn’t know what, but it was eating away at her. She wanted to go out and have a little fun for a change. The last good laugh she had was when Scott told her about Charity and Gambit’s panty raid. They both had sat and laughed until the tears streamed down their faces and they couldn’t breath any longer. Yea, Scott had been pissed at first, but the guy did have a sense of humor, he just didn’t let it show much. He was weighed down so much at times with the weight of responsibility he feels. He feels he can’t be soft on any one, or else, they’ll be the next one to die. She knew that thought scared him to death. This thing with Charity had him just about pulling his hair out in frustration. And back to Charity.

She’d let her mind wander along it’s convoluted path, but it always seemed to come back to Charity. Face it, you’re worried. She picked up the remote for the TV and started to flip through the channels. You’re worried sick, and you’re not sure why. So just sit there and ignore the situation and maybe it will go away. Yea right. Finally settling down on a movie, she watched idly as Jeff Goldblum stared in the mirror at his disfigured face. She always loved this movie, fascinated by the special effects. Now on the screen, she watched as Bundle-fly started to peel off his fingernail. The blackened skin glistened and left sticky, moist, greenish trails on the mirror as he traced his face.

Jean bolted off the bed and ran to the bathroom, stomach heaving, making it just in time to the toilet where she proceed to loose her breakfast. Maybe that particular movie wasn’t such a good idea. Wiping a hand across her mouth, she filled a glass with water, swished it around her mouth, spat it into the sink, took another sip, spat this one out too and running clean water around the sink. Taking a few more sips of water, she placed the glass down and returned to the room. Glancing at the TV screen, she now watched as the Bundle-fly ate a donut. She raced forward and turned off the TV before she saw anything else she’d regret. What a time to catch the flu.

***

O’Malley looked at the men around him. It was too dangerous for the X-Men to show up at the station; the Captain would through a tissy fit and fall in it. So they’d ended up at his apartment, of course. They couldn’t go to Daren’s place, his wife would want to know what’s happening and Shinniofski wasn’t any where to be found when Derek went to the station to see if he could find him, so he was off the hook. Not to mention his mom wouldn’t appreciate the uninvited company. So that left the hotel room these costumed idiots (okay, they weren’t running around in spandex right now, but you get the idea) were staying at or his place. His place had a computer wired into the police main frame. His place it was.

The French guy with the funny eyes was typing away a mile a minute, his red on black eyes peering intently at the now much dimmed screen. May be the guy was from Quebec? No what had the report said… Louisiana, he was a Cajun. Well, O’Malley never was good at picking up accents. Suddenly the guy swore, at least I think he swore, and started to type even faster.

"Wolvie, ge’ over here"

"Don’t call me that, Cajun" The short man, the Canadian, walked over and turned up the brightness on the screen. Looking at where a partially gloved hand was pointing, he let out a few curses of his own and motioned the rest of the guys over from the pile of papers they were going over.

"Someone been hackin’ in de files here. Dey downloadin’ everyt’ing de police got on Petite, ‘cludin’ Basta’d boy’s private files. Dey probably at de station from de looks o’ t’ings."

"Can you find out who?" Karst was almost foaming at the mouth. He wanted to crack this thing so bad, his wife was starting to think he was obsessed. Or having an affair, she wasn’t sure which was worse.

"Someone who already been in here. Dey know what dey lookin' for, and where t’is." Squinting at the screen and watching numbers fly over the screen, a few moment’s passed before Gambit spoke again. "Dey doin’ it from widin de station. Pro’bly sendin’ it out over a cell modem or somet’ing. I can check de key strokes later, but now, I go’ some hacker to crash."

Four men crowded around the one who was sitting down, looking at a screen only barely registering all that was flashing on the screen. "Dis gonna take a while, so migh’ as well go sit down. I call you when I’ done." A hand shot out and dimmed the screen back to it’s original lack of brilliance. "I still need ta breat’ you know." Thoroughly chastised, the other men went and sat back around O’Malley’s over loaded coffee table. He didn’t own a kitchen table.

"Do you two have any idea who it is?" Scott stared at the two detectives, putting on his best ‘tell me the truth or else’ faces. Not they really needed it, but it was good practice.

Karst spoke up first "Yea, our Cap’ is part of the local FOH and if he figured out you guys might be involved. . . " He let the thought trail off. O’Malley wasn’t so sure, but there weren’t that many people in the office who’d be able to hack into his private files at work. Aside from some of the computer techs, there was Captain Plaumann who could over ride passwords and Shinniofski, who had gotten Derek’s password to get at some files on his network drive.

"It could also be somebody from Computer Systems, they can also over-ride passwords." Inspite of the Captain’s hatred of mutants, this didn’t seem to be his style. "I’ll call Gary and see if he can find anything out." Mr. Sunglasses didn’t seem too impressed with this idea, but he didn't stop him.

***

Gary jumped as his phone rang. This wasn’t a good time, but it might be important. Giving up on the loosing battle before him, he hit a few more keys on the computer and returned to the pile of photocopies before him.

"Yea?"

"Gary that you?"

"Ya it’s me. Shesh, what’s so important? I was trying to get some info out of the FBI."

"Sorry to disturb you, but Daren and me stumbled across some new info. Listen, is Plaumann around?"

"Nah, he’s been locked up in his office all day."

"Can you tell what he’s up to?"

"Nope, got his blinds closed. What’s this all about anyway?"

"Someone’s hacking into the database and downloading our files. Even off my network drive. They’re probably going after yours and Daren’s next. Hold on a sec."

Gary flipped through the photocopy of Derek’s notes in front of him. It wasn’t much, but they had a lot of his speculations written down. Daren’s were much more discrete.

"Sorry about that, but who ever it was got off. Anyway, what’d you find out?"

"Not much, the FBI haven’t really gotten any where as far as finding her goes. They have bulletins out and have informed the various PD’s in the area but so far, no one’s bitten."

"Damn. Listen, they think she might be heading to her mother’s place."

"But I thought. . . "

"Yea. Don’t ask, you don’t want to know. Neither do I. Anyway, see if you can find anything out about her mother and get back to me as soon as you know."

"Wait a sec, you said they, who’s they?"

"Never mind, Daren and I ran into some friends of Charity’s. I’ve got to go. Call me as soon as you know ‘Kay?"

"Yea, but I’m not exactly. . . "

"Knew you wouldn’t let me down. Later."

click.

Well, that helps things a bit. Gary reached over to behind his computer and unhooked a small cellular modem. Georgie boy is gonna pay to a lot for this, and I bet I know who those friends of Charity’s are. Picking up the pile of papers, he dumped them in the large duffel bag, followed by the modem.

***

Jean reached over and picked up the phone from it’s cradle and put it to her ear. "Yea." Sleep had blurred her voice, the ringing of the phone having startled her out of the light dose she’d fallen into.

"Jean, it’s Bishop. Storm just checked in, Charity’s reached her mother’s house. She’s fine and probably catching up with her mom." Jean felt relief wash over her in waves as Bishop relayed the news.

"I’ll call and tell them. What did you find on the background check on those two detectives I told you about."

"Not much, they come up pretty clean, although there’s a drunk and disorderly on Karst, but it’s from ten years ago."

"Well, I’ll let the rest of them know. Thanks for calling. Is the Professor back in town yet?"

"Nope, He’ll be back on Monday. He wished you could have come."

"Yea, well. Water under the bridge. I’ll call back if the guys came up with any thing interesting. Bye." Jean hung up, and then dialed the number O’Malley had given her. Scott picked it up after the first ring.

"She’s okay?" Gotta love psychic bonds

"Yea, she’s okay. Bishop just called, she made it to her mom’s. She’s safe."

"For now."

"That doesn’t sound good." Jean leaned back on the pillow, propping her up, a hand straying up to rub her temple.

"Someone was downloading a bunch of data off of the police server about Charity and some about us too. It could be trouble."

"Well, now that we know where she is, we can contact her and warn her. How bad?"

"I don’t know. I’ll contact Bishop and see what he can tell us. I should get going. Logan’s eyeing Derek again. Bye, Love."