GHOSTS

Chapter 5

Erik and Scout were stood in a watch tower with binoculars.

"Is that the fucking X-jet?" Scout asks.

"I'll bet your ass it is." Erik flies down from the watch tower.

"Wait for me." Scout shouts, annoyed. She phases through the watch tower, before floating and following Erik.

She was less chaotic when flying now, Erik helped with that. She was less chaotic when doing anything ghost-related really. She could control which ghosts she and others could see, phase through things easily, turn invisible on command, block most powers, any mutants level 3 and below, and some level 4s and 5s if she isn't preoccupied. She has the ghosting things under some control, but sometimes it just happened, but in a controlled way.

"Where are the rest of them?" Erik asks the newly landed former X-Men member. Hank. Mr Blue Sky.

"No, I'm alone." Hank confirms.

"Mr Blue Sky as I live and breathe." Scout comes out from thin air, literally.

"Scout? Everyone thought you were dead." Hank says, hugging her one armed.

"I got better?" Scout offers an unreasonable reason.

"What, no Charles?" Erik continues, after Hank and Scout's little reunite.

"If you're looking for Jean, she's gone." Erik explains.

"No shit Sherlock." Scout whispers.

"No, I know that." Hank says quickly.

"Then why are you here, Hank?" Erik enquires. Clearly all these uninvited guests were pissing Erik off.

"You have eyes and ears around the world to help you find mutants for this place. I want you to help me find Jean." Hank speaks at an abnormal speed, for him. He's clearly panicked.

"Pfft. No way in fucking hell." Scout says, emphasising the 'fucking hell'.

"I've no reason to find her." Erik announces.

"Not for me. Do it for Raven." Hank orders.

"What's Raven got to do with this?" Scout asks, but her question is ignored.

"Did she send you?" Erik questions.

"You don't know?" Hank asks, looking at Scout.

Scout disappears, and Erik realises, but tries to push the thought down into the depths of his mind.

"Know what Hank?"
"Raven's dead. Jean killed her." Hank says, with a tone of acceptance.

Erik looks to where Scout was, and takes in her absence. He figures she's looking for Raven, he knows why. It's the same thing she did when she found out Nina, his daughter, had died. Finding comfort in dead ones was a way of knowing their intentions, and Scout found this job easy.

"I need you to help me find Jean."

"If I find her, I'll kill her."

"I know."

"Erik?" Raven's voice appears, along with herself, and Scout.

"Raven." Erik greeted, hugging her tightly.

"Did Jean kill you?" Erik barges in the question with desperation.

"Yes, but-"

"No buts, I'm going to fucking kill her. For you, and Billy." Erik announces. He signals to Scout to make Raven disappear, and she did so.

"Have you been here this whole time?" Hank asks Scout, referring to the 9 years since her disappearance.

"Give or take about half a day, yeah." Scout says.

"Why?" Hank asks, determined to find the truth.

"Do you not remember what-" Scout begins.

"No. Charles made sure of that. He made everyone forget what happened that day, with the mansion. He altered their memories, made them think that you spiralled and died with the school. I'll get bits of my memory, but not enough pieces to fill the puzzle." Hank explains as thoroughly as he can.

"Charles blocked parts of my mutation in an attempt to control it, and me with it. When I broke through it, it all went to shit. So I left, I wasn't dealing with Charles and his lies." Scout tells the story as if it was fresh in her mind.

"Nor was I." Erik says.