1962 - charles xavier

T W O

The next day, Charles and I stand in Agent Platt's office, gazing out at the golf-ball looking structure that Henry and I had constructed.

"Hank and Savvy turned that radar installation into a transmitter," Platt explains. "It's designed to amplify brainwaves, so it could enhance your telepathic powers... maybe help us find other mutants for our division."

"What if they don't want to be found by you?" A voice asks from the open doorway, and Charles and I turn to see Erik standing there.

"Erik," Charles smiles. "You decided to stay."

I raise a brow at Charles' words as Erik sends a small look to him before turning to Platt and speaking. "If a new species is being discovered, it should be by its own kind. Charles and I find the mutants..." He thinks for a moment. "Perhaps Savannah," he adds with glance towards me before looking back at my boss. "No suits."

"First of all, that's my machine out there," Agent Platt says, and I send him a small glare. "Second of all, and much more importantly, this is Charles' decision. Charles is fine with the CIA being involved. Isn't that right?"

Charles and Erik exchange a stare before the former inhales deeply and says "No. I'm sorry, but I'm with Erik and Savannah. We'll find them alone."

"What if I say no?" Platt asks with an offended expression.

"Then good luck using my installation without Charles to control it or Hank and myself to operate it."  I say calmly before Charles and I stand, taking our leave alongside Erik.

"The contraption is amazing," Charles admits as we walk down the hallway. "Might we see it?"

"Of course," I smile. "Henry should be out there now. How about we pay him a visit?"

Charles and Erik both agree, and we meet up with Raven along the way, dragging her along with us. We climb the stairs up into the dome, seeing Henry already inside.

"We call it Cerebro." I say, making Charles begin to chuckle.

"As in Spanish for brain." Henry adds.

"Alright, so, the electrodes would connect the subject - in this case, Charles - to the the transmitter on the roof." I begin to explain.

"When he picks up a mutant, his brain sends a signal through a relay." Hank continues before pausing, so I pick it back up.

"And then the coordinates of their location are printed out here." I say before Henry and I both gesture to the printer of the receptor.

"You guys designed this?" Raven asks in a shocked tone as Erik and Charles nose around.

"Yeah." Hank nods shyly as Charles finds the headpiece and begins to lower it down over his head.

"What an adorable lab rat you make, Charles." Erik smirks patronizingly.

"Don't spoil this for me, Erik." Charles scolds.

"I've been a lab rat," Erik points to his chest. "I know one when I see one."

Henry interrupts their banter and approaches Charles, adjusting the headpiece.

"Okay, great. Are you sure we can't shave your head?" He inquires, making me smile.

"Don't touch my hair." Charles says seriously.

"Okay." Hank laughs lightly as I stand near the control panel.

"Are you sure you want to try this out, Charles?" I ask. "We haven't exactly been able to do a test run."

"I trust you two," Charles replies. "You're both exceptionally brilliant. I believe that you know what you're doing."

I nod, and the two of us busy ourselves at flicking all of the required switches to activate Cerebro. Charles stands calmly as the system powers on, Raven and Erik watching uncertainly. Charles lets out a small shout as the machine begins to work, grasping the handrail in front of him as his eyes snap open. Coordinates begin to appear on the sheets of paper.

"It's working!" Henry cheers and Charles begins to laugh exuberantly as he sees mutants with the machine.

As soon as Cerebro located a handful of mutants near us, we immediately split up to locate them. Erik is quick to volunteer to recruit the mutant girl whose coordinates are at a gentleman's club while Charles and I climb into a cab driven by a young man.

"Where to?" He asks kindly.

"Richmond, Virgina, please." Charles says.

"Right, so, you want the airport? The station? What?" He chuckles, not believing that we would want him to drive us so far.

"No, we were rather hoping you would take us all the way." Charles explains.

"That's a six hour drive." He says, looking at us in the rearview mirror.

"That will give us plenty of time to talk." I say before using my telekinesis to move the time stamp on his dashboard to signify the start of our drive.

After recruiting the cab driver, Darwin, Charles and I meet back up with Erik to recruit two teenaged boys named Alex and Sean. The next day, we go to a pub, where a man is seated and smoking a cigar. Charles and Erik introduce themselves and the mutant tells them in very impolite terms exactly what they could do to themselves. We turn and walk out immediately, and I look back just in time to see him blowing his smoke out of his mouth, glancing over his shoulder at us curiously before going back to his whiskey.

"That went well." Charles says drily as we walk down the street.

"At least we've recruited four more of us," I say, looking on the bright side. "Those four along with the three of us, Raven, and Henry makes nine. That should be a decent amount."

"Let's hope." Erik says lowly before shoving his hands into his pockets, ending the conversation.

Charles and I glance at each other before walking on in silence, leaving the other to their thoughts.

꧁꧁꧂꧂

"I can't believe that you were so worried about your hair." I laugh weakly as he runs his hand over his now-bald head.

"It was my pride and joy before I met you," he winks. "You took over that role, though."

"You're such a flirt." I smile faintly as the pressure of death seated on my chest seems to grow heavier.

"Only because I love you." He smiles.

"You're still the same cheeky man that you were when I fell in love with you." I laugh before grabbing his hand once more, not knowing how much more time I had to feel it against my own.