You were already awake and dressed when Charles came to wake you up. Not that that was particularly a surprise. You now stood outside of the lab with everyone else.
"Bring the box marked 'X'" was commanded by the note left by Hank. He wasn't with you and None of you knew why. Not that you cared. Charles took the note and opened the doors. He suddenly froze as you all saw the mess.
"What the hell happened here?" Erik asked. Charles proceeded to wade through the mess and you followed behind. Tripping and stumbling over all the upturned and broken tables and chairs and lab equipment trying to keep up with Charles. Who seemed to sail through the mess almost effortlessly. He made his way to the crate at the back and opened it up. You quickly caught up and leaned over to see yellow and blue flight suits. Banshee had one specially designed with wings. Alex had one designed with his chest plate to control his ability. Raven had one that was adapted for a female build. Charles and Erik's suits were the same, except Charles had a yellow collar and Erik had a black collar.
"Do we really have to wear these?" Alex asked irritably.
"Well unless any of us are adapted to being riddled by bullets or withstand extreme g-force I suggest we suit up!" Charles responded and you both began to hand out the suits.
As soon as you touched the first suit you practically froze. You tensed up as you turned to face Alex and handed his suit over. You frantically rubbed your hands against your current clothes to get rid of the feeling. You turned back and braced yourself to touch the next one when you noticed Charles checking the feeling of his own. He pulled a strange face and turned to you.
"Bad texture," you told him. Once everyone else has grabbed their suits, you saw yours in the bottom. You glanced at Charles worriedly then braced yourself to pick it up. But your worries were soon out the window when you touched it. "Bloody hell, Hank," You muttered to yourself as you lifted it up to admire it. He had made it with a cotton layer so you were comfortable. Your suit was the smallest and had a blue collar. Charles had told Hank how you had adapted your power with the use of torches so your suit had two torch light pads that sat in your palms to assist you. There was also a separate pair of ear defenders, they looked much more sturdy and effective then the ones you currently owned. They were black and the metal that connected the ear pieces to the headband was much thicker than your ones. You took them gladly and tried them on with a grin.
"That's a relief," Erik stated. "Why don't you go suit up," he sent you off with a gentle pat on the shoulder and you went back to your bedroom.
—
You now stood in a line, admiring the fighter plane in front of you. Charles, you, Banshee, Alex, Erik and Raven.
"Where's Hank?" Raven asked, breaking the silence. Everyone looked at each other confused. You stared at the floor.
"I'm here," you heard suddenly. You shot your head up and almost flinched when you saw the huge, blue, furry figure that approached you.
"Hank?" Charles interrogated.
"It didn't attack the cells..." he began sadly. "It enhanced them... it didn't work..." so this was caused by that "cure"?! You grinned slightly to yourself and thought that it was justice served. God knows what would've happened if he injected your sister with that.
"Yes it did, Hank!" Raven assured. But this made no sense. Raven has just claimed that the serum worked although it failed to fulfil its basic purpose. You spaced out for a moment to think about this. But you were suddenly snapped out of it by Charles' panicked voice.
"Hank! Hank put him down!" You quickly turned to see Hank holding Erik by the throat.
"Don't mock me!" Hank told Erik. Charles' pleas were ignored. You hated to see your friend hurt.
"Hank! Stop it!" You suddenly yelled. "Put Erik down!" Hank rolled his eyes and obeyed. Erik landed on his knees, gasping for air.
"I wasn't," he mumbled.
"Even I gotta say you look pretty badass!" Alex chimed with a smile. "Think I gotta new name for you... Beast!" Hank didn't respond.
"You sure you can fly this thing?" Banshee inquired, gesturing towards the plane before you.
"Of course I can!" Hank boasted. "I designed it!"
—
You were close to the embargo line, now, and the reality was starting to settle in for everyone. You were sat between Charles and Raven. You noticed Charles bouncing his leg slightly with anxiety and you noticed Alex fidgeting with his hands. Erik kept fidgeting where he sat. All things you did when you were upset.
You stared at Charles' bouncing leg and observed the pace. You almost managed to space out but you soon became aware of how the seatbelts on the plane felt. First you were subtle about it, just fidgeting a little like Erik. But you couldn't shake the irritating feeling and it soon became claustrophobic. You felt a sweat starting on your forehead and your chest felt tight. You started tugging on the straps but that still didn't help. You were about to start hitting your head but Raven caught you and grabbed your wrist before you could.
"Stop," she told you through gritted teeth. "We're all stressed,"
"S-sorry," you whispered. "Please let go of me," she sighed and rolled her eyes before releasing her grip. A minute later and you had arrived.
"Looks pretty messy out there," Hank stated. You couldn't see what was happening from where you were sat. The idea of not knowing what's going on stressed you out. You watched Charles place two fingers to his temple. He flinched.
"The crew of the Aral Sea are all dead, Shaw's been there..."
"He's till down there! We need to find him now!" Erik snapped.
Suddenly, a missile was shot towards you and Hank had to suddenly turn the jet. Charles threw his hand over the top of you and you squeezed your eyes shut. You felt the jet going all sorts of ways and you felt sick.
"Hold on!" You heard Charles yell over everyone's screaming. You held your tongue as you knew if you began to yell, it would take a while to stop and no one needed that inconvenience. Eventually, the jet settled and you slowly opened your eyes and released the breath you didn't even realise you were holding.
"A little warning next time, Professor!" Hank called back.
"Sorry about that!" Charles called. "Everyone alright?"
"Yeah!" Banshee barely whispered. He was extremely pale. You still felt ill which added to your discomfort. The temptation to tug and pull at the seatbelt was even greater. But you resisted.
"Are you getting anything unusual?" Hank asked Moira McTaggart.
"No," she responded.
"Well they must be underwater," Hank huffed. "And unfortunately we don't have Sonar..." there was a pause of thought before Banshee spoke.
"Yes we do!" He, Charles and Erik began undoing their seatbelts. You internally wished you could do that too. You didn't know how much longer you could bear it.
"Yes we do!" Charles repeated.
"Yes we do..." you quickly whispered to yourself to make three. Charles heard you and gave you a quick, reassuring smile before joining the other two at the back of the jet.
"Woah! You back right off!" You heard Banshee call and Erik stepped back with his hands up. You cocked your head in confusion before you realised what was said and why. "Beast! Open the bomb bay doors!!" Hank obeyed the command and the sound of the wind reminded you of the fantasy of flying.
No! Don't space out now!
You quickly snapped yourself back to reality and wished you hadn't. You were going to crack at any moment. The anxiety in your stomach began rising.
You heard Charles yell something to Banshee but you couldn't make it out. The last thing you saw was Banshee yelling as he jumped through the door. A few seconds later, Charles yelled to everyone.
"Banshee's got a location on Shaw!" He then turned to Erik. You watched Erik stand on a wheel of the landing gear which was released. Charles leaned over and watched. In the moment of silence your anxiety got the better of you. You started rocking, gently at first, but as you let the anxiety creep in further your movements were more vigorous.
"Y/n! Stop! You'll hurt yourself," Raven called. Oh, so now she cares about you. Now that Hank was occupied. The anger began to join forces with the anxiety and you couldn't cope. The seatbelt felt so tight you couldn't breathe. You began tugging at the straps again. Raven tried to stop you but you pushed her away and kept tugging, gripping close to the buckle. The jet suddenly jolted. You'd been hit with something and were going down. The sudden movement threw you further forwards and jolted your hands which undid the straps.
"NO!!" You heard a chorus of cries as you hit each side of the jet. You squeezed your eyes shut once more and felt sudden jolts down your body as you bumped into everything.
Suddenly...
The jolts stopped...