Chapter Twenty-Eight
"EXACTLY," SAID THE Professor.
"But...won't they know it's you?" I asked, after a pause.
"There is a slight chance, but not likely. Anyone can put the pieces together if they want." He swiped a couple of times and the words came up again. "It's not likely that people will match them correctly, but they can try."
I stared at the words, thinking about what could happen. I started to tremble at the thought of losing the ones I love most.
I cleared my throat and said, "Where is he?"
The Professor turned to me. "Where is who?"
"Oscar."
"I've been searching for him. Last I saw, about a week ago, he was in Canada. I don't believe he's left there."
I stood up straight. "We have to find him before we do anything else, Professor. If you have think that the Sentinels may have already been released, we have to get him before they do."
"We have to plan this out first, Andromeda."
(X)
Logan was sitting with Scott and Storm beside Jean's bed. I walked inside the room in a rush, so Logan stood up abruptly. "You're okay?"
I didn't answer that question. "We have to go. Now."
"Where?" Scott asked. "Jean's still unconscious. We don't even have a car, Andi."
I snapped my fingers, and Jean's eyes opened. "She's fine. Someone needed to wake her."
Jean looked around. "Where am I?" she asked Scott softly.
"Sorry to disappoint," I said, "but we don't have time to explain. We have to leave. Now."
I changed into some black attire and went outside with Logan. He refused to let me out alone.
"What the hell is going on?" Logan demanded.
I stopped in my tracks. "Se-Sentinels, Logan."
"What?" He froze in his place. "You're joking."
"I am not," I said seriously. "Oscar tried communicating with me. He-he showed me his vision. He dies because a Sentinel killed him. Dr. X said he's been keeping track of news. He's matched up things that say they're creating them." I pull out a phone that the Professor had given me. I showed the picture of the factory. "They even have a factory, Logan. We have to get Oscar, then shut down the place."
"Is Oscar in the factory?"
I shook my head. "No. He-he's in Canada."
"Shit, Andi, do you know how far away freakin' Canada is?!" He pointed in another direction. I guessed he was trying to point north, but he was pointing south.
I grabbed his arm to change his direction. "Yes, Logan, I do. Now don't yell at me. Please."
He stood in front of me and took my hands. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "I'm just...I don't want to end up getting sent away. You're public enemy No. 1. I don't want you to be taken away."
I remembered what the Professor had said about Logan getting old. I threw my arms around him. "I love you," I whispered in his ear. Then I kissed his cheek.
"I love you too," he said as he held me tighter.
Scott, Jean, and Storm came outside. Jean was leaning on Scott; I could tell she was very tired, even if she slept for a long time.
Scott held out his hand. "I'll drive."
I snatched the keys back. "No. You don't even know where we're going."
"Well, if you tell me, I'll know."
"I'm driving," I said.
We climbed into a Nissan. I wasn't sure what kind of car it was, but it had lots of features – it could even fly. The Professor told me that these cars aren't being shipped out because of the war, but he managed to get one. They aren't technically legal yet either, but there's no law that said we couldn't use a flying car.
I turned on the car.
"Are you sure you don't want me to drive?" Scott asked.
I turned around to look at him. He had his arm wrapped around Jean, and she was leaning on him. I could tell she felt faint.
"You're the one with an air tank," he pointed out.
"Yes, and you're the one who has to care for Jean. Air tanks can't stop me from driving. Besides, Dr. X thinks I can take it off by the time we hit the border. He said all I need is a bit of fresh air. So shut up, and take care of your wife."
"We're not married...." he said quietly.
I turned back to face the front. "Same thing," I commented.
I pulled the car out of the driveway and onto the road. "Storm, make it cloudy. And dark cloudy. We need fellow drivers to focus on not wrecking their car, not on us."
"Yes, ma'am."
I could see in the review mirror that her eyes were turning white, and the sky became darker.
I drove to the interstate and then picked up speed. I turned on the radio to keep me concentrated. An old song – from like forty years ago – came on. Whoever was using this car likes classic rock. The song was called "Separate Ways" by Journey. I'd heard of that band, but I'd never listened to one of their songs. That song wasn't so bad.
Scott was moving his head with the beat. I realized that I was the youngest person in the car; the others had lived through the 80s. I was born in 2004.
Thinking of the year I was born, I wondered if mutants lived longer. Scott, Storm, and Jean looked like they were only in their late thirties, early forties. Logan had some gray, but he was like 200 years old. He still looked fairly young. Maybe I'll live to be 200.
The Professor was born in the 1930s or 40s. He looks good on it, too. Maybe I'll at least live to be 100, since I share the same powers as the Professor.
I felt dizzy, and I couldn't breathe well anymore. "Logan..." I mumbled. I gripped on the wheel, afraid I would turn us into a ditch.
"What's the matter?"
"I...can't...breathe."
He picked up my air tank from in between my legs. "Shit, Andi. You're almost out."
"Back...car..." I focused harder on the road.
"Scott, grab the wheel from her," Logan said.
Scott got up from his seat and lunged for the wheel. I dropped my arms and leaned back my seat.
I really do need air, I thought. What's wrong with me? What is the Professor hiding?
My vision was turning fuzzy, and my head was hurting. I wanted to know what the Professor didn't tell about me. I wanted to know why they can fix bones, but not my lungs. I didn't get hurt that badly, did I?
Storm threw up an air tank, and Logan caught it. He switched out the empty one with the filled one, and immediately, air started shooting up my nose. I sucked it in, feeling my head hurt more from too much oxygen. I squeezed my head.
"She'll be okay," Jean said. "Just give her a minute."
I closed my eyes. My head started to feel better after a few seconds, and I gripped my hands on the steering wheel. "I got it," I said softly to Scott.
Everyone became silent as I drove. The only sound was the soft hum of the radio. Logan had turned it down when I couldn't breathe to concentrate. I wanted to turn it back up, but I didn't want to move.
My mind kept drifting to the vision. I worried about Oscar so much that it hurt my chest. He was the only family I had left. Everyone else was dead.
I thought of what had happened in the past year. There were so many deaths and so much hurt. I wanted it all to end. I hated myself for being a mutant. A strong mutant.
I didn't mind being a mutant, really. I liked it a lot. It set me apart from people. It made me different. I like different. Different is interesting and more exciting. That's what I first learned when I arrived at the school. The school for the gifted teaches others that different is okay. The normals should learn that.
Being a strong mutant was something else. I was powerful and dangerous. Anyone who doesn't like strong mutants are afraid of me, so they hunted me down. I was still being hunted down, and crossing the border would risk it.
Then, I remembered.
The car can fly.
Logan placed his hand on my shoulder, rubbing his thumb gently. I turned my head to see him slightly, and I smiled a completely fake smile.
"You don't have to act like you're okay when you're with me," he whispered. "I care about you, Andi. I hope you know that."
I nodded. "I know you do," I murmured. "Logan, I'm scared of the Sentinels. They'll wipe us away. But how did they create them?"
"Back in the 70s, it was because the normals arrested Mystique and studied her."
"Do you think they're studying her now?" I asked feeling tense. "She is – was – oh, I don't know where she is now – but the point is, they could've examined her when we turned her and Magneto in."
Logan nodded his head. "That is a very good thought. But...how are they making them so quickly? The Sentinels that were in the other future – the ones you saw – took about fifty years to perfect. If they're making them now just like the ones you saw, they've had to have been thinking about this plan for a long time."
"Who created them originally?" I asked him.
"Bolivar Trask."
I tried to remember if there were any names on the blue prints. "I don't remember any Trask...."
"He's dead. He died of cancer twenty years ago. He couldn't have made these himself."
"But whoever worked for him could've continued his work. Maybe he already thought about it before? I mean, he had the plans laid out even after you changed the future. Maybe he was doing it in secret, like he knew something like this would happen no matter what."
"It would seem like Trask to do that. I need to contact Beast...."
I pushed the touch screen in the car. "Dial his number. The car has a phone in it."
"Thanks." Logan started pushing numbers on the screen.
I looked at the road. I wasn't sure how long we'd been driving, but I didn't care. I wanted to keep driving until we'd found Oscar.
"Hello?" Beast's voice rang through the car, waking up the others in the back.
"Hank?" Logan said. "This is Logan."
"Logan? How'd you contact me? This isn't your number."
"Yeah, I know that. Our phones were kind of...destroyed. Anyway, I need your help."
"Anything."
"Sentinels. I think you remember them."
"Yes, I do," Beast replied. "What about them?"
"They're coming back," I said for Logan. "Beast, they're making them now. Oscar managed to connect his mind with mine and he showed me a vision. He died because a Sentinel killed him."
"Are you sure his vision is right?"
"Yes."
"What do you need help with?"
Logan looked at me then said, "Can you do some research on Trask? We think he continued on with his project and his people carried off after he died."
"Yes, of course. Give me a moment."
There was silence.
Then I asked, "Have you heard from the others?"
I heard Beast sigh. "Yes. Rogue's group. They were ambushed."
My eyes widened. "Are-are they okay?"
"Not many survived. Rogue managed to escape with Milo, Jamie, and three others. They met up with Bobby. I don't know what the war's like over wherever the hell you are, but it's hit pretty hard up here now. No where is safe anymore."
I swallowed.
"I found some stuff," Beast said, changing the subject.
"What?" Logan asked.
"Your ideas are true. His people continued on. And they used Mystique not too long ago. The Sentinels are ready any day now. They're sending two to the White House in two weeks. Which is not good...."
"Why?" Scott asked.
Jean, Beast, and I all said in unison, "The President is a mutant."
"Those Sentinels will kill him," Logan said. "Can you protect him, Beast?"
Beast sighed. "No. The only way to do that is if we kidnap the President and send him away from them before they send the Sentinels to the President."
I thought. "You think they're sending the Sentinels on purpose? I mean, if the President falls, America will fall apart. I mean, it already has. No one will vote for a new leader. Whoever's in charge of these Sentinels will make himself leader. That could mean bad things. Beast, you have to kidnap him. There isn't any time. We need some important lives to be safe."
Beast hesitated. "Alright. I'll group up with Rogue and Bobby. We'll figure something out."
"Thank you," I said.
"Hank," Logan started.
"What?" Beast asked.
Logan hesitated and then said, "Good luck."
"You, too, with whatever you're doing."
"Beast," I said abruptly. "I need to talk to you in private sometime. It's important."
"Anything."
I pulled over to the side of the road. "Please, get out," I told the others.
They looked at me like I was crazy then reluctantly stepped out.
"Beast," I said softly.
"What is it, Andi?"
"I know about the Professor."
"Have you seen him?" His voice sounded so full of hope.
"Yes. He saved our lives. The others don't know. They can't know. But...why did he tell me that he's alive?"
"Because you're very much like him, Andi. And he trusts you."
"I don't understand why he had to fake his death, Beast." Tears began to well up. "We need him, Beast. Now more than ever."
"I know. But he thinks the world doesn't need him. Instead, they need you."
I sniffed. "Me? What's so good about me? I'm just a kid."
"But you're more important than the Professor. He believes you are, and I think he's right. You're very powerful, Andi. I bet if you really tried hard enough, you could control the whole damn planet and stop the war."
My eyes widened.
"But I strongly advise you not to try that. It could hurt you."
"I'm that powerful?"
"Yes," he answered. "The Professor knew from the start. Andi, you can control time because you're psych levels are so high. No mutant can do that. Even the time travelling ones."
"Why am I just now learning this?"
"Because the Professor didn't think you'd need to know. He's afraid that your powers will get to your head, and you'll turn evil."
I shook my head. "I don't want to turn evil. I just want to finish the war."
"And you can do that. You're the key to balancing the normals and the mutants. Oscar told the Professor your future. You finish the war."
I took a moment to let that sink in. "Thank you, Beast. I know what to do. Goodbye." I hung up. "You can come back in now!"
The others came inside the car. "What was that about?" Scott asked.
"Nothing," I said. "But I know how to stop the war. But we need to get to Oscar."
I pulled back onto the road. I started pushing buttons. "I hope we don't get arrested for this." I pulled on the gear and the car slanted up. I pressed on the gas harder, giving more speed. I pulled on the gear again, and soon, we were airborne.