"Stop here." Hank instructed as Logan and Charles laughed about something.
Symphony growled as the car came to a sudden halt.
She hated when Charles drove like that, especially when he would stop with a jerk, causing her to hit her head as she slid off the seat.
"I like driving so don't get used to it." Logan commented as he and Hank got out of the car, leaving Charles to pick Symphony up off the floor and let her out as well. "Sorry Love." He whispered as she glared at him wearily.
With that, they headed up the walk towards Quicksilver's home.
Logan knocked on the door and a lovely woman came to the door. "What's he done now?" She asked nervously. "I'll just write a cheque for whatever he took?" She offered.
Symphony licked her nose with a slow blink as she sat near Logan's shoe.
"We just need to talk to him if that's alright." Logan assured the woman.
The woman nodded and let the three men and the fox inside. "Peter." She called out. "The cops are here.. Again..." She sighed.
The group of four traipsed their way down into the basement, where they found a silver haired youth playing ping pong with himself.
Symphony took careful notice of the obviously stolen tech and snacks surrounding them.
"Hey guess what!" He started as Logan walked into the room. "I didn't do anything! I've been here all day." He said, giving up on the game and sitting on the sofa, making the group turn to see him, since he moved so fast.
"Just relax Peter, we're not cops." Logan assured the boy.
Peter didn't look tense at all. If anything he seemed overly comfortable with the situation. "Of course you're not cops. If you were cops you wouldn't be driving a rental car." He told him with ease.
"How did you know it was a rental?" Charles asked in surprise.
"I checked the registration when you walked in the door." Peter answered, stunning the lot before him.
"I had some free time so I went and found your rental agreement, so you're from out of town... Are you FBI?" He asked, before moving super fast and grabbing someone's wallet.
"Nope you're not a cop; you're with a sketchy tutor's place." Peter answered his own question, as Charles turned, revealing that it was his wallet that Peter had grabbed.
"That's an old card." He admitted as he irritatedly grabbed his stuff.
Hank grinned eagerly. "Well he's fascinating!" He said.
Charles sighed and shoved his card back into his wallet. "He's a pain in the butt." He informed Hank stubbornly.
"He a teleporter?" Hank asked, extremely curious.
"No, he's just fast." Logan told him, putting his hands on his hips. "From what I know, he was when he was young."
"Young?" Peter asked, now behind them again, eating a popsicle. "You're just old." He informed them, causing everyone to turn to face him.
"So you're not afraid to show your powers?" Hank observed, making Peter look up from his snack.
"Powers, what powers, what're you talking about?" Peter asked, talking just as fast as he moved, making Symphony growl.
First she was called old, now she was feeling slow.
Absolutely stunning form.
"I do something strange here?" Peter asked, testing the men, who looked like they were struggling to keep up with how fast he was talking.
"Nothing anybody would believe if you told them." He put off, before zipping over to his game machine.
"So who are you, and what do you want?" He finally asked.
Logan took a small step forward as he spoke, coming close to stepping on Symphony's tail. "We need your help Peter." He answered.
"With what?" Peter prodded, still playing his game.
"Breaking into a highly secure facility, and to get someone out." Logan explained.
"Prisonbreak? That's illegal you know." Peter teased, trying to get them to meet his interests somewhere in the job.
"Um..." Logan looked around, only now taking notice of the electronics and snacks around them, making Hank notice as well.
Symphony laid down on the ground, waiting to see if this meeting played out as entertainingly as she'd seen it all this time.
"Only if you get caught." Logan finally replied.
"So what's in it for me?" Peter finally spat out, knowing there wouldn't be much.
Symphony disguised a foxy laugh with a canine sneeze, making Charles smile at her when he looked down at where she lay.
"You, Kleptomaniac, get to break into the Pentagon." Charles answered rubbing his eyes, immediately gaining Peter's full and undivided attention.
Peter turned in his seat to face the three men, completely forgetting about the fox on his floor. "How do I know I can trust you?" He wondered.
"'Cause we're just like you." Logan answered simply.
Peter watched them disbelievingly.
Charles knew and loved this bit, and nodded his head. "Show him." He told Logan.
Logan obediently extended the three bone like claws from between his knuckles, causing Peter to stare in awe.
Symphony chose now to turn back into a human, standing up directly beside Charles, causing Peter to startle some before nodding. "It's cool if it's interesting." He shrugged it off.
Charles grinned, leaning over to mutter in Symphony's ear. "Glad you could join us beautiful." He flirted, making Symphony smile.
She could tell that Charles was already on his way back to how he was before Vietnam happened.
Over the next hour or so in the car, they all formulated the master plan for breaking Erik out of the Pentagon, fixing up the tech Peter had insisted they bring as they figured out what each person would do.
*****
It was decided; Symphony would be in the car, ready to drive, and also guiding Peter telepathically as he broke in, and Logan, Charles, and Hank went on the tour and carried out their respective roles from the upper levels, meeting up with Erik and Peter in the kitchen, where everyone would escape and make it back to the car under Symphony's mental shield.
This was as long as everything went according to plan.
All Symphony could do was sit and wait in the car, keeping low so that her ears wouldn't be seen.
Elevator's on the right. Symphony told Peter, noticing the doors out the corner of his eye. Go when that guard over there heads in.
Peter obeyed, cheekily knocking the guard's hat off his head, before duct taping the poor man to the lift, using the whole roll of tape.
Turn your mental back sweet thing. Peter warned, preparing to get into the guard's uniform, so that he'd be able to get in.
Symphony sighed and did as she was told, only coming back when Peter beckoned her mentally. I've reached the cell. Getting him out now. Peter told her.
Hello Erik. Symphony reached out, smiling as she felt Erik's bemusement of the situation.
I was wondering when you were coming to get me this year. Erik's cheeky reply came.
After that, Symphony sat back and relaxed, waiting patiently for everyone to come out of the building, fully unaware of the trouble her friends and husband were getting into.
*****
"Peter, thank you, thank you very much." Charles told Peter gratefully.
"Hey I saw your flight plan in the cockpit; why are you goin' to Paris?" Peter asked in curiosity.
Symphony smiled as she rubbed the back of one of her fox ears, watching as Charles handled the question by evading it.
Stepping aboard behind Erik, Symphony morphed into an Arctic fox and laid under the seat she knew Charles was going to take, watching Erik carefully as he took his own walk around the small jet.
Logan pierced the newspaper Erik was about to take, not finished reading it for himself.
Erik sighed and walked away. "Imagine if they were metal." He joked, making Symphony mentally chuckle at the knowledge she had on what he'd one day do to the Adamantium boned Wolverine.
"Where did they dig you up?" Erik asked Logan, taking a seat at last, unaware that Symphony was watching him.
Logan leaned forward, about to explain the future issue again. "You're going to find this hard to believe, but, you sent me." He answered. "You and Charles. From the future."
Erik looked over at Logan in disbelief, not saying another word until much later, when he decided it would be a good idea to talk to Charles.
Things were tense in the plane, and Symphony simply hoped that no one would speak of anything too sensitive.
It was Erik that broke that hope.
"How did you lose them?" He asked, referring to Charles' powers.
"The treatment for my spine affects my DNA." Charles answered honestly.
Erik looked over at his former friend. "You sacrificed your powers so you could walk?" He confirmed, not understanding how Charles would do such a thing.
It didn't start out that way. Symphony told Erik. Originally he kept the powers and his legs, so that he could be with me, and still be himself. She explained.
"I sacrificed my powers so I could sleep." Charles half lied, finally giving Symphony the rest of the truth she'd been looking for.
That I only partially knew. That might partly be my fault. She affirmed.
"What do you know about it?" Charles asked spitefully.
"I lost my fair share." Erik told him honestly, only just starting to understand the changes that had happened between Charles and Symphony.
Charles started getting a little agitated. "Oh dry your eyes Erik. It doesn't justify what you've done." He accused.
Erik shook his head. "You have no idea what I've done."
"You took the things that meant the most to me." Charles answered.
"Well maybe you should have fought harder for them!" Erik retorted, knowing that Charles was hurting Symphony with these words, even if it was unintentional.
"If you want to fight Erik, I will give you a fight!" Charles started to shout as Erik stood.
"Sit down!" Logan called from his seat.
Symphony slid out from under Charles' seat and morphed into human form, standing between the cockpit and the cabin.
Suddenly, hearing Charles raising his voice, Symphony felt afraid, bad memories racing through her mind as her heart rate sped up significantly.
"Let him come." Erik said gently to Logan.
"You abandoned me!" Charles yelled, grabbing the front of Erik's uniform. "You took her away, and you abandoned me!"
Hank looked out of the cockpit to see what was happening, noticing that Symphony was clinging to the walls in desperation as her whole body heaved in effort of keeping up with her accelerated heart.
"Angel." Erik started, bringing up other names. "Azazel. Emma. Banshee." He continued, losing control as he sent the plane on a collision course. "Mutant brothers and sisters all dead!" He responded as the plane continued falling.
Symphony started to cry a little. "STOP IT!" She shouted over Erik's voice as he argued with Charles.
Neither he, nor Charles heard her.
"Countless others, experimented on! Butchered!" Erik started to shout.
"Erik!" Charles finally got out as he hung to the side of the cabin desperately.
Symphony cried out as she braced herself. "Erik stop!" She whimpered.
"Where were you Charles?" Erik asked, trying to make a point. "We were supposed to protect them! Where were you when your own people needed you?!" He continued shouting, slowly crushing the plane in his emotional turmoil, making Symphony cry more as Charles slid along the sofa, and Logan clung to his seat.
"Hiding!" Erik answered his question. "You and Hank, pretending to be something you're not!" He purposely left out Symphony, knowing that she only stayed hidden because she had married Charles.
"Erik!" Hank pleaded this time, watching as the horizon dipped above them, and Symphony started to shake in utter terror.
Symphony started to panic as she saw a future of crashing in the plane they were currently in.
Logan just sat there shaking his head, knowing that she was going to put them both in hot water. He didn't know anything about Symphony, because she was dead in the future he came from, but he knew from how the Professor had spoken of her, that she'd have a worse temper than Jean Grey had.
Erik continued with his little tantrum, slowly crushing the hull of the plane, sending them down.
Logan worried when he saw Symphony clutch to the walls, a fearful tear sliding down her cheek as she screamed out in a severe accent no one knew she had, that nearly sounded scottish. "ERIK, THAT'S ENOUGH!"
Erik and Charles looked at her in alarm as things started to float in the cabin, and Symphony's body started to shake as she cried in terror, falling to the floor when her knees buckled.
"You abandoned us all." Erik finally made his point, and then he corrected the plane, and Charles stood to go over to Symphony. "Symphony, stay calm, please..." He pleaded, narrowly missing getting an eye stabbed out by a knife. "I can't help you Symph, you have to calm down.".
Symphony managed to look up at Charles, before looking over at Erik, calming down in time for Charles to join Hank in the cockpit. "I know the truth." She whispered. "I knew he was one of us before you even tried to save him."
Logan saw the look Erik got when he realized how terrified Symphony truly was. "So you were always stupid." He concluded, knowing that Erik had only just noticed that Symphony had been absolutely terrified.
Erik turned to Logan. "I take it we're best buddies in the future." He said sarcastically, watching out the corner of his eye as Symphony morphed into a teary ball of fox fur, retreating to a small dark corner, far under a seat on the opposite side of the plane from everyone, obviously closing herself off from everyone, including Charles.
Logan cocked his head as he answered Erik. "Yeah, I spent a lot of years trying to bring you down Bub." He confirmed with a decided nod.
"How'd that work out for you?" Erik wondered, genuinely curious as to if he was any good in the future or not.
"You're like me." Logan replied. "You're a survivor."
There was a brief pause before Logan looked at the stuff on the floor from the incident. "Wanna pick all that stuff up?" He asked, making Erik turn to look at the mess.
Erik knew that ordinarily, it would already have been placed back via psychokinesis, but that he'd have to do it now, since he'd ticked off Charles and terrorized Symphony.
There was no way Symphony would come out of her spot anytime soon, even if it meant not getting off the plane until everyone was long gone when they landed in Paris.