It takes him a long while but eventually he finds a place to stay at near the train station. There's a couch bed... thing and a small television with a kitchen and table.
He lights a cigarette near the fridge after taking out a drink and leans against the counter, eyeing the documents that they had...
That's when he hears something and he frowns, taking the thing from his mouth and grabbing a handgun. He sneaks around the small flat and keeps his gun ready... for an intruder—he whirls around the corner and points it only to find a kid with silver hair sitting on his couch lounging with his feet crossed on the foot rest and chewing a Twinkie as he watches the television. He doesn't even look over at Erik as he says, "Wow... you look like shit."
He frowns and lowers his gun. Wait he knows this kid. It's the kid who helped him escape the pentagon... "How the hell did you find me?" he demands in a confused way.
"Dude, it would take way too long to explain. Dang I've already seen this episode like six times," he says as he watches the opening to a Nightrider episode.
He continues to stare at him with confusion on his face and looks to the left at the window, snickering from all of this. He uncocks his gun and tosses it on the side table. Then he frowns again. "How did you get in here?"
"I've known how to lock pick since I was like ten years old. Hey you ever seen Star Trek?" He says while still not taking his eyes off the screen.
"Once or twice," he says as he lifts his brow and looks behind him at the doorknob that has a wire still sticking out of it.
"Hey I'm really thirsty, I just ran about 6,917 miles, not counting all the other stops I had to make. What kinda drinks you got here?" He runs over at lightning speed over to the fridge, causing a slight breeze that blows Eriks hair upward. "Ah just water and beer, hey mind of i try a beer?" He speeds over to the counter and pops open the can taking a sip. "Ew, damn. You actually drink this stuff? I think I'm gonna puke." He makes a disgusted face.
"Don't have a very strong tongue, do you?" He asks as he walks slightly over to him and makes the can come to his hand to drink it himself.
He speeds back over to the fridge grabbing a water and gulping it down. "So hey man you remember me?"
"Uh..."
"Oh wait!" He flashes to the couch and back to the counter wearing a pentagon security hat. "Souvineir." He says with smile.
He raises his brows.
"What does it look weird with the hair? You know blue had never been my color. Its the silver hair." He shrugs and zips back to the couch, lying back with his arms crossed behind his head.
He gives him a look and sits in the armchair. "So is there any particular reason you are hear in my apartment?"
"Uuuuhhh, yep." He says and stays... awkwardly quiet.
He frowns and takes another drink before continuing to stare at him...
"So what happened to that other guy? The guy that smelled like he hadn't showered in a month."
"Logan?"
"Uh he had a British accent?"
"...Charles."
"Yeah what happened to that guy? I remember him cause he punched you." He smiles widely while nodding his head.
He rolls his eyes. "He's back with his own kind where he belongs. And I am where I belong... Alone," he explains plainly.
"Well that's depressing." He says extremely plainly.
He pops up his eyebrows and sets his can on the side table. "I think you avoided my question... Who sent you? Am I being recruited again?"
"Um... no." He says awkwardly avoiding eye contact.
"I don't have to be a telepath to know I'm being lied to, kid."
"I'm not lying. It's just-I'm just--" he clears his throat. "I uh ran away. Sooooo... i came here. To.... the middle east." He says still not looking at him.
"Taking a holiday?"
He chuckles. "Yeah you could say that. So what about you man? What're you doing here? They outta houses in America?"
"Well you could say I don't have a taste for western life," he returns the attitude, still wondering why on earth Peter is here.
"So... hey so is it cool if i crash here tonight?"
"Hiding from the government? Or did your mom find out you committed a crime worthy of death?"
"Uh well yeah my mom found out and she pretty much grounded me for the rest of my life and threatened to try and send me to boarding school. But then we talked you know, after she calmed down and i promised to never break someone outta the Pentagon again. And then uh..." he stares at the ground.
He raises his brows to let him continue. "And?"
"Aaaaand... then i came here." He takes another drink of water casually but still with some nervousness.
He frowns and then after a moment he snickers and looks to his left in disbelief.
"Alright," he says smugly and gets up to walk into the kitchen. "Do you watch that show at home?"
"Yeah, usually I just sit in my basement and watch tv till about 4 am. Mostly during the weekends but recently during the week."
"Got kicked out of school for stealing the answers to a test?" He asks as he looks through the documents he got.
"Nah I got suspended. I'd put a thumbtack on the teachers chair every time he got up. They took a video and i still got away with it." He says with pride.
He frowns. "If you didn't get caught then why were you suspended?"
He opens his mouth like he's about to explain but then looks confused. "Oh riiiiiiiight, i stole his computer and got caught."
He chuckles as he listens but his brain is switched to what he is now reading... 'Newest initiative! Thank you for agreeing to help with our cause. Together we can protect ourselves from the threat of mutants!' He flips through them and reads about... 'Needing more mutants for experimentation'...
Suddenly the documents flash out of his hands and peter is across the room reading them. "What's this? Looks important. What's Trask? Whoa are they talking about mutants? Where'd you get this? Wait aren't they the ones that made the robots? With the president?" He says really fast.
"Yeah. Apparently they're up and running again. Not as powerful as the Sentinels would get but there's something else there... I didn't get to the last pages."
"Hm, so are you like..." he just pauses for a minute. "Eh never mind. So hey uh you never really answered my question, can i stay here for... maybe a while?"
He frowns, confused as to why he would want that all of a sudden. "Why?" He asks to finally get the answer out of him.
He chuckles idly and starts to give a vague answer as he flips through the last pages which is a list of people taken captive... one name makes him freeze up completely and his smile is wiped from his face... his expression growing into intense worry.
"What?" Erik asks, noticing the change in his eyes.
He can only stare at the name: Maximoff, Wendy... "That's... there's no way... but..." his face suddenly really panicked. "No-no-no-no-no-no-uh-uh—"
"What is it?" Erik demands.
"Th-that's—no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no! That's m-my sister why is she on this list—why—I-I don't get it why—"
Erik is trying to shush him.
"No-no-no-no-no-no! What's going on—?!" He panics more.
"Shut up God dammit!" He cuts him off.
They become really quiet and there's a distant beeping that he can hear... He looks at the documents and at the paperclip, just now noticing a tiny tracker attached to it.... His eyes widen when he realizes. "Fuc--" an explosion cuts him off and throws both of them off their feet and onto the floor, pieces of rubble hitting them as the heat swells into the room intensely. They land on their hands as the pages are scattered.
Erik cringes from the pain that shoots through his leg. He presses his palms to the ground and gets up enough to look around the fire lit room.
Peter doesn't open his eyes or move. Blood is dripping down the side of his head.
Erik groans and gets up, looking over his shoulder to see heavily armed men running their way. He curses multiple times before hurrying over to the kid and shaking his shoulder. "Get up dammit!" He rushes him.
Peter hazily opens his eyes and sits up. "What happened--ow!" He holds the side of his head.
Erik stands back up as gunfire begins catching his attention, bullets hitting the floor near him. He tries to block them with his powers but realizes they are plastic. He supposes he knows who these men are now... Which means they are in serious trouble. "Go! Go!" He urges him and leaps behind the counter for cover.
Peter quickly crawls behind the counter as well. Still trying to recover from hitting his head.
Magneto grits his teeth in anger and pulls his pistol to his hand, cocking it immediately. That's when a grenade lands beside them. "Kid!" He warns.
Peter closes his eyes and everything freezes do to his speed. He stands up, grabs the grenade and throws it at the men then ducks behind the counter.
It explodes and sends three of them flying from their place, Erik taking the opportunity to turn the corner and start firing bullets their way. The smoke makes it hard to see them but he gets one of them in their leg. He ducks again as bullets hit the ground too close to him... But he stretches his fingers, pulling the guy using the bullet in his leg. He screams and drops his gun as he is dragged to Magneto but as soon as this happens he gets a flashback from the day he shot Raven... He becomes dizzy and comes back just as Peter has smashed the man hard with an iron frying pan, saving Erik from being shot.
They duck again but the men are too close for that to be cover anymore. So Erik lifts both his hands, raising every metal object in ten foot radius into the air before he and Quicksilver face them. Erik throws everything at them, metal knives, lamps, the sink, and any other metal device at them with force as Peter whizzes through his own time stream, throwing each bullet out of course and tripping one to his left, taking the frying pan and pressing it to the side of the next one's head before throwing a hard kick to the one behind him in order for him to smash into his friend. He whips behind another, realizing just how many there are and he's not sure they can take them all. But he yanks down on one's head so that he'll hit it against the ground.
He continues to misplace bullets as they are being fired and as Erik makes a whirlwind of his metal objects taking them out. As Peter comes out of his trance he is so dizzy he almost falls over, landing on one knee. Eight of them fall injured and some dead. Erik picks up his gun and hurries over to the boy, firing at two more men running towards them and getting the first one in the neck, watching his head whip back as he falls dead. The second stumbles from it catching his vest.
He spots more of them and looks at Peter who seems disabled. But he continues to fight and so does Peter once he goes a bit slower, knocking guns from their hands as Erik throws his gun after it's empty, letting it smash into the head of a soldier before he catches one's arm and sends his elbow agains his face, Peter running through him after and knocking him to his back.
A horn catches Magneto's attention and he looks to his left to see the train that's heading by them. He finishes off the man before him by sending a fork through his throat and darts left toward the train. The moment he's around a box someone meets him but he grabs the gun from the man's hand and smashes it agains his face before throwing down a kick so hard on his leg that it breaks it and he continues running. Bullets hit against the metal carts around him as he hurries to find an open car on the train.
Peter rushes toward him and looks for one himself as gunfire continues. Erik looks to his right and puts it both hands. A giant metal storage cart tumbling and smashing into the closest ones to get them off their tail. "Over there!" Peter says but before Erik knows it, he's thrown into a cart and Peter is already there too as the train speeds up and leaves their attackers behind, most of them being dead anyway or not far from it.
Peter almost collapses as he tries to sit down with his back against the wall of the train. He holds the side of his head and winces in pain.
Erik pants and looks out the open boxcar door as they pass the station. They've lost them... For now. He gets up into a sitting position, looking at some blood on his leg from where he was hit. But not too bad. He's had far worse before. He cringes and breathes, setting himself against the wood.
Peter pants as well and covers his face with his hands in frustration. "I didn't..." his face looks frustrated and sad and his eyes look watery.
He looks at the boy. "...They have your sister?" he says almost not sounding like a question.
"I don't know how they got her." he says with a shaky voice.
He hesitates and looks away... knowing that they are experimenting on her as well to find how to kill all mutants... But the question is are they experimenting on her or her corpse? "...I'm sorry," he says sounding like he half cares but he does. That's just the way he tends to speak.
Peter just stays silent for a minute, staring at his hands as he rubs some ash off of his knuckles. "I didn't... i didn't come to your house because i just decided to run off..." he says still not making eye contact with Erik.
He is listening as he stays quiet, eyeing him.
"My... mom she... ...my whole life..." he says with a shaking voice and watery eyes. "You're my father," he chokes out at the end.
His heart skips a beat and his eyes change. He suddenly becomes interested, a little afraid if that's true, and confused as well. "...What?" There's no way...
"I'm your son—" he says tearfully, yet still desperately trying to not cry.
He stares at the boy for a long time, not believing it... and then he blinks a few times, wanting a further explanation as he shuts his eyes. "Who told you—what..." he stutters.
He swallows. "After my mom saw you on the TV... about the president and the robots, she said she wanted to talk to me—" he sniffs and wipes his nose. "She told me that, back when she was like eighteen, she got kinda drunk at a bar, and went home with a guy she met there. And they..." he stops and takes a breath. "She said she saw you move some beer cans, and that's when she knew, that you were different. And that she saw numbers on your wrist... she said that you were gone the next morning without a trace." He stops and more tears fall down his cheeks.
His eyes dance around on the moonlight that blankets the wooden floor as he remembers that night... and her... Sarah was her name. He is surprised he remembered that. But she was the only women to talk about the numbers on his arm. He sees flashes of that night as his eyes dart over to his left arm where they are marked... her laugh and smile... It was all so long ago... And it was such a normal night yet... not. He went to her apartment with her after the bar and he remembers talking to her—after they slept together—half dressed as they just casually talked, still intoxicated of course. Back then he didn't care who knew what he could do. He didn't think it mattered, especially when he was drunk or if she was... But all of it was decades ago... He can hear the truth in his words and the pain... he knows he's not lying. But it's... a lot to take in.
He takes in a deep breath before he continues. "I know... that you've done a lot of really bad stuff... and my mom tried everything to get me not to come after you but-" he finally can't help starting to cry. He says through tears. "I went my whole life being the kid with no dad at home, my mom just dating around. They were usually really bad guys too... i just... i wanted to meet you..."
Erik knows that some of this is pain that's showing from the panic in his heart from finding out his sister was taken, but the rest of it is the memories of his childhood. He feels bad for the kid as he listens, his eyes careful... He can't exactly empathize with Peter, because his childhood was far worse than anyone else on earth's (or at least that's what he's convinced of). But he can hear real pain in his voice and he does feel sorry at least. He remembers the days he thought he was the only suffering soul on the planet. Of course that's rubbish but sometimes he felt that way. Now he is numb from most emotion, learned to choke it down and forget it. He doesn't speak, not knowing what to say.
Peter can't speak anymore. He stays like that for a while just letting hemself cry. Then he puts on his headphones and hides his face between his arms and knees with his back against the wall. Half mortified at showing so much emotion and not knowing if he even believes him. He sits there desperatly trying to blow it all off again like usual, listening to his favorite tapes.
Erik sits there for a long moment as he thinks... and looks down at the numbers on his arm, images from his childhood flashing by before he puts them into a black hole again and forgets them... He looks at his son. "You're not missing much, kid... I would never have been a good father," he admits truthfully, unsure if Peter can hear him or not.
Peter doesn't move for a long time. Erik looks down... and then out at the hills that are passing by, weak blue light shining on the baron landscape... "God knows I would have made your life as painful as mine by the end," he mutters... knowing inside him he would never be a good father and that people would always be after him. He's a wanted man and bloodshed follows his footsteps. No one who cared for him would survive the life he lives. He's... not like the others. He's always been alone and is expecting to be alone until he dies. There's nothing for him in the ways of friends... or family... or anything else that Charles always had. He's always lived in the darkness... where others simply cannot follow.
.
.
.
.
.
Peter slowly opens his eyes, he didn't realize he fell asleep on his side on the train floor. He had his silver leather jacket rolled up as a pillow. He sits up and yawns. Underneath his silver jacket is a pink floyd shirt, his favorite band. He leans up against the wall again. He looks over at Erik who's still asleep. His wrist is turned over so that the numbers show. He doesn't understand what it means, what Eriks past is. His mother wouldn't tell him what they talked about. He's calmed down more now, and afraid to say anything to his father. He opens his bag- he managed to grab it before he left. Pulling out a hostess cupcake and slowly eating it, he's always been able to basically eat anything he wants because of his mutation, his metabolism is raised to an unnatural rate. He walks over to an open door and sits on it, letting his legs dangle as he eats breakfast.
Sunlight eventually wakes Lehnsherr from his sleep and he is reminded where he is... He doesn't move, just opens his eyes to see Peter sitting and not noticing. That's right... This kid is his son. He... he has a son? That's... going to take some getting used to. He doesn't think this kid is gonna want him around when he finds out just how... rough and cold this man is. Inside he doesn't even feel like he has a heart sometimes. He knows if Peter really wanted this, he would find out the hard way how different his life would be. He... His daughter. He also has a daughter. And she's in trouble... He glances at Peter and asks, "What time is it?"
Peter hesitates for a moment. "I don't know, i don't have a watch..." he says without looking at him.
"...Are you alright?"
"...yeah, yeah of course..." he says with real effort to try and sound normal after yesterday. But it still comes out sounding sad.
Erik was never good with comforting anyone. That was Charles's thing; people skills. He just breathes and looks down... "We're going to find her," he says, realizing that he hadn't decided that but he supposes he has now... He owes that at least. And he would want to take out Trask industries before it killed him.
Peter looks up a little bit and nods slightly. He's not used to situations like this, he's scared and scared that he won't be brave enough.
It isn't in Erik's nature to deal with any of this either. Since he was young revenge was all he knew. The only thing that he thought would make him feel better was justice. He holds onto that. He sighs and puts his hand on his face. "I'm not good at this kid. I never had parents," he says honestly. "But I know how it feels to miss someone you never knew. So I'm sorry if I caused that."
Peter stays quiet for a long time. He turns around and asks kinda abruptly, "What happened—to them...?" He stares up at Erik.
He eyes the boy and speaks truthfully, "My father was taken to a gas chamber before I was born and my mother was shot by Sebastian Shaw when I was twelve."
He remains silent but his eyes gaze slowly drop to the floor. He had no idea... "I-I'm... sorry..." he's afraid to ask anymore but desperately wants to know his father.
"It was a long time ago and I'm not a slave to my past anymore. And neither are you. What matters is who you choose to be now..." he suddenly remembers who said that. Part of him misses his old friend.
He stares up at him then back down to the floor. "Uh... yeah, yeah you're right." He says with his usual plain voice.
He waits for a moment... "Is that garbage all you eat?" he asks, getting him back to his usual self.
"Uh this is not garbage. It's food from the gods. And besides I can eat anything I want because my mutation raises my metabolism higher than usual." He takes another bite.
He snickers and looks to the left outside. "Fair enough."
"How are we gonna get my sister back?" He asks with worry behind his voice.
"I don't know... These people don't leave loose ends around for ways in which to track them... I don't even know where their facility is..." He thinks they're stuck. But... There's one way... No he can't go back there. He had been trying to avoid it at all costs. But shouldn't he warn them of the growing threat? Aren't they in danger too? "...Dammit," he sighs.
"What?"
"...Well... I do know of a way..."
"What is it?!"
"...You can't get us back to the school, can you?"
He thinks for a minute. "I can get you to Switzerland and back, but... I've never gone long distances with another person before..." he says doubtfully.
.
.
.
"Huh, that wasn't so bad." He says as he lifts up his goggles off his eyes.
He had zapped them both there and he stands with his hands on his hips looking up at Xavier's school.
Behind him a ways, Erik thinks he's fine but then he stumbles and falls on his hands and knees to start hurling.
Peter pulls off his headphones so that they're resting on his shoulders. "You know my arms a little tired from holding you're head all that time though." He turns around to Erik puking. "Oh—gross." He says with a disgusted face.
Erik chokes and starts coughing as he catches his breath. His head hurts like no other and he's too dizzy to stand. He clears his throat and looks up at Peter. "Wasn't that bad," he quotes him.
He still looks grossed out. "Uh... need some help?"
"I'm fine," he says angrily and tries to stand up but then heaves again. "Dammit Peter..."
Some kid with dark navy skin and a tail stops and raises a brow. "Hey Scott tell the professor some lumberjack is puking on his lawn," he calls to someone.
Peter turns around to the navy blue guy. "Oh it's okay he's with me." He smiles. But then blinks a couple times to make sure he's seeing this guy correctly- what the heck- he thinks and his face looks confused.
"What? Never seen a cappuccino before?" he replies to Peter, lifting the cup of coffee in his hand.
He just stares at him backing away slowly over to Erik. Then turning around to face him. "Um, Erik? Whaaaaat exactly is this place?" He asks still not taking his eyes off the blue guy.
Erik finally stands up, his vision returning to normal as he looks at Xavier's mansion. "It's a school for the gifted," he tells him plainly.
"Wow, is this a school or a castle?" He stares at the enormous elaborate building.
He gives him a look and chuckles before walking to his side. "Come on..." He begins walking to the entrance with him. "This should be interesting..." he sighs.
Peter is still in awe and looks all around at the incredible architecture. "So what are we doing here? Who's school is this? Why's it so big? Is it like a rich kids school? Dang it would've been fun to break in here." He talks extremely fast.
He makes a face as he walks. "Has anyone ever told you, you talk too much?"
"Yeah pretty much every teacher I've ever had." He says with a grin.
"Why doesn't that surprise me?" he says plainly as they walk up to the large double doors.
When they get to the door Erik is about to knock but it opens right before he can, a girl about Peter's age with long red hair standing there to greet them. It only takes a second before she seems to know why they've come. She frowns. "He doesn't take unscheduled visits," she seems rather cold towards them.
"Well it's a good thing this is an emergency," Erik says plainly and lets the doors open as she just frowns and steps back. Erik enters with Peter and gives her a look on the way in. "Thank you..." he turns and walks down the entry of the house. It feels so weird to be back here for him...
Peter is looking around and actually not walking as fast as Erik and doesn't realize he's way behind Erik as he looks around at all the classrooms and mutants.
Magneto stops in his place and frowns... then he turns his head to look back at Quicksilver. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but would you keep up?"
"Huh? Oh yeah!" He speeds up to Erik.
They walk through the main hall of the mansion as kids rush around them to get to their next classes. All of them are mutants and though they can't see all of the abilities, it's overwhelming how many mutant kids there are in one space. They had never seen very many together like this. Their own mutant community. Peter himself has only ever seen a couple of people like him in his lifetime.
"Sooo uh who are we looking for?"
They stop up ahead when someone catches Erik's gaze. He is looking to the right at the office towards the east wing... there behind the desk Charles Xavier speaks to a tiny child who looks so familiar to Erik... That's the kid he saved from the Middle East that day, the one with the cat ears. He is in different clothing and looks clean. Charles is pointing at something in a book as the child listens to him and another teenager waits outside the door.
Erik has stopped and is watching them. That's when Charles looks up and his eyes lock with his old friend's... Astonishment crossing his features. He never thought he would see Erik Lehnsherr ever again. He can't believe it. And it seems they have switched styles since last they saw each other. Erik is dirty, tired and rugged, wearing plaid and an untrimmed thin beard on his face. Charles looks almost like he did back in the Cuban crises only his hair is still long.
His eyes are stuck to Erik's for a moment but then he dismisses the child and prepares to roll his chair from behind his desk carefully.
Erik looks down and slowly enters his study. Charles rolls up to his old friend but... keeps a distance. It takes a moment for Charles to form words but Erik gives him that time because he doesn't speak... "I... never thought I'd see you again," he seems a bit emotional but also still very very angry with Erik.
"I've been fighting on my own. I've learned I don't work well with others," there's a hint of amusement in his eyes at those words.
Charles wants to smirk a little at the statement that is indeed very true. He keeps himself from becoming angry. "...Where did you go?"
"...Everywhere. I can't even name all the places I've been..." He looks down. "Or the things I've seen..."
"You left all of us."
He hesitates and looks up at his friend. "How do you think your new recruits found their way here?"
Xavier frowns and then dives into his head. What he finds is... something he thought "Magneto" would never do... He sees all the mutants being mistreated all over the world and killed off. And how Erik has been saving them on his own... He swallows away his emotions and his anger for the man dissolves. "W-why did you come back?"
Erik lifts his brows and starts, "Well I—" he looks behind him to realize Quicksilver is gone. He checks the other direction and... nope nowhere in sight. He clenches his teeth. "Dammit Peter."
"Lost someone, have we?" Xavier asks with his brows raised.
"You know I don't know how you keep track of all these little bastards I need a leash just to keep track of one," he says plainly with frustration.
"Hey you shaved, you don't look homeless anymore." Peter says from a chair in Charles office.
Charles flinches and frowns at Peter before lifting his eyebrows when he processes his statement. "You again?"
Erik rolls his eyes. "Where did you go this time?"
"I explored the whole mansion, courtyards, got a snack, talked to some students now I'm back here." He zaps in front of of Charles and next to Erik. "Hey so you remember me? Damn you look different."
"And you look... The same," Charles smirks a bit.
"Hey why are you in a wheelchair? What happened? I thought you were walking? Or was acid or something?" He says quickly.
"Oh, yes, Erik why don't you tell him what happened?" He says with attitude to Magneto.
Erik clenches his jaw and looks away but then decides to play along and lifts his eyebrows to tell Peter plainly, "his girlfriend shot him in the spine."
"Whoa crazy ex? must've been a tough break up. I had a girlfriend who I dumped over a phone call and she stabbed my hand with a fork but nothin' like this." He says casually.
Charles shakes his head at that story and Erik lifts his eyebrows. "So what brings both of you here?" Charles asks again to get to the point.
Peter looks down a little. "Uh... m-my sister... you didn't meet her but she's my twin, she's also mutant. She was taken to some experimenting place and I don't know where to find her..." he says with real pain and fear behind his emotionless voice.
He stares at him for a long moment, his brows pulled together in concern and thought.
After a few moments Erik adds, "Charles Trask industries is back up and they're more dangerous than ever..."
Xavier looks up at Erik in surprise but also worry, severely interested in his words. "...Trask his dead."
"Someone else has control... Someone named William Striker."
"Striker?"
"And they won't stop until we're all dead."
He looks at his friend with concern. "Where did you find this out?"
"I intervened a detachment of foreign soldiers who were taking a group of mutants to meet with Striker's men. I grabbed some documents belonging to them but I didn't read much of it before we were attacked. Try and see if you can find what was there.
Charles nods barely and lifts a couple fingers to his head in order to read Erik's memories. When he comes across the files he marks down in his memory what he sees. "What's 'The Wolverine project'?" he asks Erik.
His face becomes confused. He didn't catch that before but... he remembers the fellow who came with him to break him from the Pentagon and stop Raven... he remembers how he left him... if Striker got a hold of him... One by one all of Magneto's mistakes seem to be catching up with him...
He shakes his head. "I don't know... But whatever it is it's going to be used against us."
"...All of us," he realizes. "And if these people are hunting down mutants then they know about the school..." he breaks from Erik's mind and looks behind him at all the kids out there. "They're all in trouble."
"Not if we stop them, Charles. Help us find the girl. That will lead us to Striker."
"I don't think it will. Because if these documents are correct then he has more than one base, Erik."
"And we'll destroy those, too. But we have to start somewhere."
Charles can't shake the feeling that something has changed in Erik. Something has flipped inside him. He can't tell if it's something good or bad as of yet. But there's something new inside his motives that even Erik himself is wildly unsure about. He thought all those years ago that he just gave up. He never thought he would be back in this war again... But... he also never thought mutants would be back in a war against humanity. And look where they are now...
He hopes that whatever path they take will lead them to the end of this battle.
He takes a deep breath and focuses. "How will I find her? What's her name? What's her gift?"
"Wendy." Peter finally speaks. "Wendy Maximoff, she's my age. Sh-she has kinda a telepathic, telekinesis, you know that kind of stuff."
Charles exchanges a look with Erik.
"Why would they need a telepath?" Erik asks with worry.
Charles thinks on that but the same worry shows in his face. He looks a little panicked and begins to roll from the room.
"Charles?" Erik presses for the man to give him an answer.
"Hank, take me to Cerebro," Xavier tells the man coming to fetch him for something. He nods at once and drops what he's doing to follow Charles.
Erik looks at his son before going with them.
Peter's face looks scared as he follows all of them as well.
They head to the back of house to the elevator that gets Charles to the other floors of the house and Hank clicks on the X button at the very bottom of the panel. The elevator doors shut and they head to the "basement". Once there they follow Xavier through the white hallway and to the large room that is a hollow sphere with his desk at the center of it, bridge leading to it. They walk carefully towards the set up with the controls and helmet, following behind Charles.
"Whoa this place looks like something from Star Trek." He says as he looks around at the spherical room.
"I take that as a compliment," Hank remarks, loving the show himself.
"So what are we doing here? What about my sister?" He asks Xavier.
"It's Cerebro," Hank answers. "It's what he uses to find mutants. It's how he found all of his students."
"Almost all..." Erik adds.
Charles rolls up to his station and puts on his helmet to begin. Hank helps them as the others look around and the door shuts. The components power up and Xavier gets ready, not speaking to anyone as Hank turns everything on. Soon the walls around them become clouded, projections of various mutants popping up like tiny ghosts as the others look around in wonder at it all. Hank is used to it by now but it still entertains him to see all of the people like them...
Voices flow throughout Cerebro from all the individuals Charles is scrolling through to find Wendy.
Peter leans over to Erik. "You can here the voices too right?"
Erik gives him a look.
Suddenly a high pitched sound catches all their ears and Charles cries out slightly from pain and cringes.
Erik and Hank pay attention when this happens. "Charles?" Hank asks in concern.
That's when the projections turn scarlet red around them and there's an eerie echo of a woman screaming faintly throughout Cerebro.
Charles is breathing hard now as he tries to keep his hold, his mind straining. "...I found her..."
Peter's face shows worry from the sound they are hearing and his heart beat doubles. "What's—what's going on? Where is she?! Is she okay?!" Pure fear shows in Peters face now
"I don't know—" he cringes again as he struggles to hold on. "Hank. Hank, write down these coordinates."
He scrambles for something and pulls out a napkin from his pocket to write on it with a pen the numbers and address Charles tells him.
"Charles," Erik says in concern as the man looks like he's in serious pain, putting a hand on his shoulder as he approaches him.
Charles shuts his eyes and tries to breathe steadily. He clenches his jaw and continues to hold on but is having trouble. The faint screaming gets louder.
"I've got it!" Hank says as he finishes tracking where it was coming from.
That's when Charles yanks the helmet off his head and Cerebro shuts down.
All of the images disappear and the room returns to its white state. Xavier is breathing shakily and he holds his head as if still feeling a migraine.
"What happened?! Wh-where is she?! Was that her screaming?!" Peter yells out of fear and heartbreak.
"Quiet, Peter," Erik scolds.
"...She's in pain... I... felt it," Charles explains.
"What are they doing to her?"
"They're using her mind... her range is almost as intense as my own..."
Peter looks extremely hurt. "Wendy..." He sinks down and wraps his arms around his knees hiding his face as his body trembles at hearing her scream in pain.
"What are they using her for?" Erik continues to ask.
Charles's eyes are darting around in front of him, still trying to breathe normally again. "To find us... All of us."
"What are they planning to do? They're not government funded they don't have the weapons to take us out," Hank says.
"...Yes they do..." Charles disagrees and looks up at Erik when the two have the same thought.
"Wolverine," Erik realizes.
Charles looks frightened but then shuts his eyes as he continues to have head pains.
"The most perfect mutant hunting creature on the planet..." Hank comments.
Erik looks behind him at his son who's sitting on the ground. "Peter," he tries to get his attention. He bends down and puts a hand on the kid's shoulder.
"Get off me!" He snaps and shoves Eriks arm off him. He starts running out of the room then speeds out of sight.
Lehnsherr stays there hesitant before looking away and standing up, letting out a sigh.
Charles seems to feel better now as he breathes steadily and blinks a few times.
"...What's our plan?" Erik asks.
"We... can mobilize tomorrow morning. After a make sure my school is safe and on lockdown," Xavier explains. "We'll also need a plan of action. I got a mildly okay look at their facility... it's not... well it's not like breaking into the Pentagon."
Erik thinks on those words hard...
"You and Peter can have a room in the west wing tonight..."
He nods and leaves quietly from them to head back upstairs...
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Peter is sitting under a tree somewhere on the school grounds. Sitting with his knees up and arms draped over them with his back against the trunk. He's calmed down a bit but is still extremely worried and sad, staring at the ground.
"She'll be alright, you know," a voice says behind him in the proper British accent of his.
He turns his head around to see him then looks back down at the ground, not responding. "How did you find me?" He asks without looking up.
"It wasn't hard in the end. I just found the only head in this school I couldn't read." He rolls himself over to him. "Your brain is magnificent. So much data being processed in a single minute and the things it makes you capable of..." he thinks and looks down. Then with the help of Hank's geniusly designed wheelchair he pulls his body up and sits down next to Peter. "This was my favorite tree as a kid. I would climb the branches with my father watching. My grandfather planted it himself..." he says as he gazes at the branches with memories in his eyes.
He looks up at the tree. "What's that big squiggly line on the bark?"
"Oh that..." he follows his gaze. "Scott—well... a new student just getting adjusted to things," he explains, almost smirking from the memory.
Peter looks back down, being silent for a while. "How do you know she'll be alright?" He asks with immense doubt that she's okay.
"Because like my students, I too have a voice to listen to," he says truthfully. "And Erik and I will bring her back to you... I promise that." He looks into the kid's eyes. "And her suffering will be over."
He looks away then back at him. "Sh-she's really tough. We both—had to be tough." He tells Charles but is really trying to reassure himself.
"...I know..." Charles says with a serious look. Hey may not be able to read the kid's current thoughts but he can read Peter's past. "You've been through a lot... And I know what it's like."
"H-how did you know about...?"
"I can receive a lot of information in a short time just like you can... I saw... a young silver haired boy who was afraid of his gifts when he discovered them, not knowing why people around you were stuck in time and you never thought you'd escape. I saw you taking your little sister in your arms when your mother didn't come home for three days, drying her tears with her little princess dress. Your sister Wendy went and told the police to find her... she came home horrifically hungover and spent... but that wasn't the first time or the last that happened was it?" his eyes look gently into Peter's.
He looks down, and a little away
"You spent your years at school being ridiculed and bullied for how different you were, the only real peace you got was when you went home and played video games with your twin sister. You and her had always been close... she always understood you. She could get you out of the worst trouble. And you were there to help her. You two needed each other. And she was always there to make your life... worth it..." As he speaks he fades into his own memories, knowing exactly what it's like to have such a strong bond... and the pain when you lose them... "...Your mother would bring home man after man into your house, drink... get angry at her children and pass out on the couch... I know what it's like to have a mother that is... not there for you... And to go through life without a father... all those years... until—" He stops and then something changes in his expression... his eyes turn into astonishment and he doesn't know whether to be touched or worried but... all of his emotions flood into his expression to make him breathe out and put his hand to his mouth.
He looks at him and his expression turns a little confused. "Wh-what is it?"
He clears his emotions before replying, "...Erik." He lifts his eyebrows.
He looks surprised then down and away.
"Well it seems pain in the ass runs in the family," he says with a chuckle, his eyes showing too much emotion to just be casual and he breathes again, not knowing what to feel.
"I... I went to find him... my mom she said... that I should be afraid of him but..." he stays silent for a moment. "Was he really... did he really do all those bad things?" He asks with innocence behind his voice looking at Charles.
He becomes serious and looks away for a moment, the slight breeze blowing his dark locks back. "Erik has done many things he may or may not regret. I see a good man under his mistakes... I know he was doing them for a good reason... but he never understood the barrier of right and wrong regardless of the cause."
He thinks hard on those words for a long moment. "Did he really kill JFK?"
"...No... I mean—yes but no. He was trying to save him which is why the bullet curved but... it was too late. He says he was one of us..."
"Well... i guess that's a little bit of a relief..." he looks forward a little. "I don't know... if it was a mistake or not... finding and meeting him. He told me... 'you're not missing out kid, I'd be a horrible father.'... i don't know i guess just ever since i was a kid i thought... i don't know..."
"...You thought any father at all would be better than this?" he says quietly as he looks at him with soft eyes, understanding exactly what that's like.
He looks at him and nods slightly.
He continues to look sensitive as he speaks. "You... are not your past..."
He suddenly remembers Erik saying the same thing. He pauses for a while. "Honestly... sometimes he does scare me, it took me forever to finally tell him that i was his son... do you think that- he could ever be somewhat of a father to me?" He asks with real hope but also doubt behind his voice and Charles can sense it.
He waits a moment and then a smile spreads on his lips subtly. "Of course I do," he says surely.
Peter manages a small smile at his words. Then sighs and leans his head back against the tree. "This place is really nice, if I lived here I'd never get anything done. Well—it's not like I have anything to get done already. I'm a total loser." He says with a joking smile, feeling more like himself again.
Charles lifts his brows and lets out a chuckle. "I bet you get out of the house more than me, however," he teases back.
"Well if I lived here I'd probably just get lost inside the house and never leave either."
He chuckles. "We had that happen once with a new student. Poor kid."
"Wait seriously?"
He nods. "He missed three classes. Finally someone found him trying to open a window to get to the outside of the lavatory."
He laughs.
After a moment Charles becomes serious again and looks down. "You'll have to be patient with Erik... He's not practiced in the art of... human interaction in the emotional sense. But I know he cares for you and will soon realize how much..."
He looks at him doubtfully, then down. Not responding for a moment, Charles sensing his doubt that he even cares about him at all.
"He may say he's doing all of this to kill Striker but... I know what he really wants is to save your sister—his daughter. There's something in him that he doesn't even know yet. He doesn't show love the way most people do. He has his own way and that's being a fighter like he's always been. But that doesn't mean he's not fighting for you and for her... We only fight for the people we love. Remember that."
He doesn't respond but thinks hard on that and takes his words in seriously, looking down before starting to stand up. "Um, yeah you know it's uh—It's been a long day I think I'm just gonna go play my Game & Watch and maybe take a nap or something. Is there a room I'm staying in or...?" he asks trying to be casual again realizing he would like some alone time to contemplate everything that they just talked about.
"Hank will help you to a room," he tells him, his eyes still serious. Before he leaves Charles stops him by saying, "Peter." And when he turns and looks, he says, "try not to pester the students," he smirks slightly.
He laughs and speeds away.
Charles sighs and shakes his head, a smile lingering on his lips.
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"I'll see you next period," Jean Grey says to her friend as they part ways. She hops down the short steps and down the hall—a quiet sniffing gets her attention and she detects distress to the left of her. She turns the corner and walks to find Nightcrawler with a crumpled letter in his hand, sitting on the step away from everyone else and looks upset.
"Kurt?" she asks in concern, her expression reflecting her tone. She met him the day he got here and they've been somewhat of friends since then.
He doesn't really react to her but he just sits there with his arms rested on his knees.
She comes to sit by him, asking him—instead of reading his mind because he doesn't like it—, "What's wrong?"
"I got a letter from a friend of mine I knew back home. Some people... stormed into the monastery and... most of them were killed... including—s-someone I was close to..." he tells her vaguely.
"What men?" she asks with confusion.
"I don't know he just said they were looking for me."
"...Why were they looking for you?"
"It scares me..." he admits, knowing there's no point on hiding anything from her.
She looks sympathetic and puts her arm around him to give him a side hug, knowing he needs it right now.
"Aw, isn't this cute? Seems like blue spaceman has a girlfriend," some punks comment as they walk up to the two. Jean knows them but their powers are pathetic.
"Go to hell, Elvis," Jean says referring to his slick black hair.
"Or what, carrot top?"
She turns away from them as she lets the illusion of hundreds of spiders crowd at his feet and crawl up his body and the others too. They are shouting and running now but she focuses on her friend. "I'm sorry about your friend."
"It—it's okay he's with our Father now," he says.
Suddenly peter walks up. "Hey there's a guy who just tripped and fell in a planter over there." He points.
Jean snickers and tries not to laugh. "Oops," she says with sarcasm.
"He deserved it," Kurt says with an honest shrug.
Peter zips over past them causing their hair to blow upward. Now sitting with his back against a wall playing a Game & Watch at incredible, unatural speed. "So what do you guys do for fun around here? Are you guys all mutants? Never seen so many mutants before," he says quickly without taking his eyes off his game or breaking his concentration.
"Yeah that's kinda the point of the school," Jean says.
"H-how did you do that?" Kurt is still looking around in confusion.
"What the silver hair didn't give me away? I guess dyed hair is starting to be a thing now. I can like move really fast. Like you wanna see me run to Canada? ... ...Wanna see me do it again?"
Nightcrawler states with disbelief. "He's bluffing," he says with interest.
Jean chuckles.
"Whoops. Ya caught me. I really am fast though." He says as beeping is coming from his game.
"How fast?" Kurt asks curiously.
"How about a race with you two?" Jean smirks.
Kurt raises his brows and looks at her. "Me?"
"Yeah whoever wins gets... To go see Exorcist with me tonight," she looks excited.
"It's a school night," Kurt warns.
She shushes him.
A mischievous smile spreads on peters face. "Now you're talking." He stops his game and stands up. "By the way it's Peter. Peter maximoff. Or as my mom calls me, 'get-off-the-couch-and-go-to-school'," he says with his usual attitude.
They both stand up to be introduced. "Yeah I know your name. I know your mom's name. Sarah Maximoff. I'm Jean Grey. Nice to meet you, Peter."
"Whoa—what the—That's creepy. How'd you know that?"
"She's telepathic," Kurt brags as if telling a ghost story.
"Oh yeah? Well try to read my current thoughts." He challenges.
"Okay," she accepts the challenge and dives into his--"Ah!" She recoils and puts her hands on her head. "What the hell?"
He laughs.
"What is wrong with you? How do you think that fast?" She tries to calm her migraine.
Kurt is amused as well.
"Well if you run fast you gotta think fast too. The professor says i have 'a magnificent mind'," he brags.
"Ditto," Jean competes.
"Hey!" Kurt realizes and teleports to Peter's opposite side to take his handheld game and zap back. "I love this game! I played it from other student my first day," he adds.
"What—what just happened?" He looks to where Kurt was just standing.
"He teleports," Jean says as Nightcrawler plays his video game with extreme interest.
He looks around. "Man. And I thought i was weird." He says jokingly.
She laughs a little, "Why don't you go to school here?" She likes his attitude.
"Uhhh... well I haven't been known to be the best, well, student. I'm actually suspended right now for getting caught trying to fit my teachers computer in my locker after I stole it."
"Did you get in trouble for stealing it or for breaking the rule of no computer in your locker?"
Nightcrawler is lost in the handheld game still as he sits against the wall.
"Oh definitely both." He smirks. "And every time my teacher gets up I put a thumbtack on his chair. They got it on tape and i still got away with it." He smiles widely.
"No way," she makes a face of disbelief but still smiles.
"Hey, I'm a lover not a liar." He says jokingly trying to be 'smooth'.
"Yeah I... I don't think that's how the quote goes--" she starts to laugh a little.
"Really? I've been mis-hearing that song all this time..."
She cracks up and puts her palm to her face.
"Are you coming, Silver haired friend?" Kurt's voice asks far from them and Jean looks behind her before he teleports to where they can see him. "I'm already halfway there!"
Jean looks at Peter and then starts to smile in excitement before chasing after Nightcrawler.
Peter covers his eyes with his goggles and smiling starts speeding after them both.
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Outside in the massive backyard of the house, they stand on a flat area that goes on for about twenty yards and then hits trees. Peter and Kurt stand side by side as they prepare for Jean to say the word. "Alright whoever makes it to that tree first gets the ticket," she says. "One... Two... ...—"
"What are you doing?" the voice of Charles Xavier asks and they realize he is rolling up to them from the targets where he was talking to a kid.
They all look over their shoulders at the professor like they've been caught stealing cookies. "....Nothing?" Kurt stutters.
"Wassup? Just pestering your students." Peter shrugs.
"I see that. Something tells me you have a back for disobeying your superiors," he says with slight amusement.
"Yeah pretty much. We're gonna race to see who's faster, me or the blue guy." He smiles.
"You two should be in history right now," he says to the others.
"Havoc gave me a free period," Jean says.
"Not him," Charles says and nods to Kurt.
Nightcrawler smiles widely with "innocence".
"And what's the prize for this race?" Xavier asks curiously.
Peter speeds over next to jean. "A date with the telepath." He says as he nods.
"It's not a date!" She protests with a frown of offense and disgust.
Charles is chuckling now. "You know it's a school night..." He gives them a look.
They all look at him as if silently begging him to let it slide.
He shakes his head and looks back at them. "Just make sure you're back before ten," he keeps an amused smile on his lips.
Jean grins widely and so does Kurt.
"You hear that? We gotta be back before ten baby." He says with a smirk to jean.
She drops her jaw with disgust and punches him in the arm.
"You ever.... Call me that again!" she starts.
But Kurt and Charles are both laughing.
He mouths "ow" and rubs his arm where she punched him before laughing. "Love hurts." He shrugs and speeds back over next to Nightcrawler.
She growls and crosses her arms. "Oh I can do worse than that, silver boy," she pouts.
"I believe you," he says and winks at her.
She rolls her eyes and gives him a mental sharp pain as if she slapped him.
"Ow damn!" He rubs his head and smiles widely and jokingly.
She cracks a laugh and hides her cheeks from him.
"Let us begin?" Kurt interrupts.
"Yeah yeah," Jean agrees as she holds back a smirk. "Alright ready?"
They get in position—well Kurt does... Peter just stands there cocky like always.
"Three... Two... One." She connects her mind to them both in order to find the winner.
The very second she says 'one' Peter is at the end of the finish line reading a comic book, looking super chill.
Nightcrawler zaps to the large tree as fast as he possibly can but he already finds Peter there leaning against the trunk casually. When Kurt's eyes meet his Peter gives him a wide smile without teeth plainly.
He frowns and looks super confused as he looks back and forth from where they were to here.
"Congratulations, Peter," Charles tells him inside his mind as he chuckles, before he smirks and leaves the kids to go back inside.
Peter looks very proud of himself, always loving to show off. "Well," he says before speeding over to jean. "Guess it's just you and me," he speeds over to her other side and makes kissing noises before speeding away back over to the tree, leaning on it reading a comic book.
She makes a gawking look and yells, "You are such an asshole!"
Kurt still is standing there trying to figure out how Peter won, looking extremely confused.
He laughs. "I get that a lot. Mostly after I steal someone's wallet or something." He shrugs.
"Oh so you're also a criminal?" She says in his head as she walks to where they are. "Why doesn't that surprise me?"
"Yeah I got this fun nickname going. Kleptomaniac." He says with a toothless smile.
She can't help but start laughing at that, now close to them. When she stops she looks back at him. "Well how about a new nickname now?"
He looks her interested. "Like?"
"A hero name. That's what our history teacher calls it," Kurt says with excitement. "I am Nightcrawler."
"What about Fleetfoot?" she suggests teasingly.
He makes a disgruntled face at that.
She chuckles. "Um Silver Surfer."
He shakes his head.
"Asshole. The Very Fast Running Asshole," she tries not to laugh.
"No, no, no, it needs to perfectly describe me, how about 'supreme rad god of all awesomeness and speed'?"
"Oh yeah that's totally short and catchy," she says with amusement.
"How about Quicksilver? It's a type of metal," she adds.
He almost says it's ironic but stops himself. "Hm, it's catchy, I do wear silver a lot... yeah. Quicksilver it is." He smiles.
She smiles.
"I like it," Kurt agrees.
"...Me too," she says staring at Peter with a smirk.
He smiles back at her.
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"He's quite the kid, you know," Charles tells Erik as they sit watching the teens goof off in the distance.
Erik, now clean shaved and in a brown leather jacket and nice clothing, sits under a tree, his arm draped over his knee that's propped up. He thinks on Charles's words and looks down.
"Why didn't you say...?" Xavier looks at him, his eyes glad of the news.
"I didn't know until a few days ago," he replies. "Sorry I didn't send a telegram."
"What happened?"
"...He found me. I was out doing all I could to try and help our kind... But I never thought I'd be back here..."
"Neither did I. After what happened in DC I am surprised you can be in the United States at all."
"So long as they don't know," he smirks.
Charles keeps a hard face. "It's nothing to joke about. You almost killed a handful of innocent men including our president—"
"I was trying to protect my people—"
"It was wrong, Erik. That wasn't self defense that was—or would have been—murder. And it would only have made them start a war with our kind which in the end would not help your cause—"
"I was wrong... I get that. I made a mistake and I've been paying for it. I know that now," he avoids eye contact with Charles.
There's a moment of silence before the professor speaks again. "What you don't understand, my friend, is the difference between ending a war, and ending a war before it starts. And every time you end a war before it starts innocent people are killed... and it never works for the greater good. What we must focus on is creating an environment of peace for the people who are in need. Gather them together and unite them—not as an army... but as a community... It doesn't always have to end in death."
"There will never be peace between mutants and humans, Charles."
"Erik if you follow your thoughts through to that conclusion, then you mean you want to murder every single human who doesn't possess the mutant gene... Think about it... more than three quarters of the population—you're talking about an end to our world... Is that what you want?"
There is a pause as he thinks on that and... clearly he doesn't have a reply. That's not what he wants... maybe he doesn't know what he wants... he looks up and sees the kids around—happy mutant kids. And for a tiny moment he understands Charles's point and his vision for their kind. Happiness. Contentment. Being surrounded by their own people and fitting in.
Erik had been a lab rat ever since he discovered his ability. He doesn't understand what a world without war is like. All he's ever known is killing and... winning. All that was shoved down his throat when he was a child was war. But he knows nothing about peace... is this what peace looks like? There's a small part of him that envies all of these kids growing up here in the sunlight. Verses where Erik grew up... He never had happiness... maybe he did in small doses but... not much. That life has made him a harsh person. And sometimes it's difficult to do anything normal.
Hopefully he will learn to find his way in the world soon. He may not have a normal life but it won't be all around pain either. Not if he discovers who his true people are and that not everyone else is his enemy. He'll find out he's had a family all along.
Maybe he can help those who had a childhood like his...