Hello everyone! Thanks so much for the reviews and alerts and favorites! So inspiring! I was really glad to hear people liked the "Always protect your king" line. I mentioned to a few that I've had that line for weeks wanting to fit it in a fic and finally got my chance. Actually, I have to admit, it almost didn't make it in. It was literally the last thing I did before I published. I had a completely different line and then was like "Hey, this is an opportunity to use that line I've been wanting to use!" And voila! So that's the story of how my mind kinda sorta worked there.

On to chapter 2!


Erik burst back into the mansion, sending the door slamming into the wall behind it. Every metallic component in the doors and windows in the mansion rattled. The children (though they weren't really children as Erik had pointed out to Charles in the ruins of the CIA facility…he'd fallen into the habit of referring to them as such thanks to the telepath) started where they stood in the kitchen as he stalked in. A look of relief crossed Raven's face.

"Erik! You're okay! What-"

"Shaw has Charles."

The relief on the girl's face turned to horror, mirrored by the three boys gathered behind her.

"What-" "How-" "Why-"

All of them began talking at once. Erik wondered briefly how Charles dealt with it all the chaos that must be present in his head with so many people buzzing around in it. His chest tightened at the thought of Charles coupled with the knowledge that Shaw had him. He held up his hand. The children silenced.

"Since you're all down here, I have no doubt Raven has told you where I went and why." Erik leaned on the counter, not wanting to relive what had just happened, but knowing he had to explain. With a deep breath, he composed himself and continued. "It was a trap. Shaw knew I would come and he knew Charles would follow me. He had a helmet that kept Charles from affecting him. He incapacitated me and knocked Charles out while I was down. He and Azazel disappeared before I could stop him."

The younger mutants stood silent in varying states of shock. Raven's features switched between anger and fear before settling on anger. She stalked up to Erik, inches from his face.

"This is your fault! I told you we're a team! If we'd all been there-"

"Then he would have gone through all of us, gotten Charles anyway and possibly left you injured, which would only cause Charles to worry more. Trust me, the only person Charles needs to be worried about right now is Charles. Besides, I think you're the one who told him where I was! Maybe if you'd kept your concerns to yourself, he wouldn't be in this situation!"

Raven recoiled as if he'd slapped her. Without another word, she stormed from the room.

Hank shot a pointed look to Erik (as pointed a look as the scientist could muster) then followed after her. Those in the kitchen could vaguely hear Hank shouting for Raven to wait from down the hall before a door slammed.

Erik was breathing heavily from the pent up emotion he was feeling. Sean and Alex both looked awkwardly between him and each other. Leaning with both hands on the counter, Erik raised his glare to meet the boys.

"What are you looking at?" he growled. It was low and dangerous. Anyone with any sense would have scuttled from the room without a word. Sean, it seemed, prided himself on having no sense. He walked around the counter, moving closer to Erik while still maintaining a safe distance.

"That was a low blow man. Blame isn't going to do anything for the Professor. We need to figure out how to save him."

Erik continued to glare before his features softened as he let out a sigh. Maybe Sean had more sense than he let on. Nothing like having a teenager be the one to slap sense into you.

"You're right. Oddly."

"I guess the Professor is rubbing off on me. On all of us."

"I didn't mean for…this shouldn't have happened. He shouldn't have been there. I shouldn't have gone. It was so clearly a trap! This is all my fault!" His voice escalated as he spoke, culminating in a yell that left all the metal in the room vibrating.

Alex walked around the counter as well, joining Sean. "You pushed him," he said jerking a thumb to indicate Sean, "off a satellite dish without any regrets. It could have turned out totally different if he hadn't been able to fly. I don't think you've been looking back and regretting what you did. This situation definitely did not turn out the way you wanted it to. But you can't sit here and regret that it happened. It won't do anyone any good. If prison taught me anything, it's that you can regret something all you want, but it won't change a damn thing. Sean is right. We should focus on what's happening now and how we can fix it."

Not the most eloquent of speeches, Erik thought, but it got the point across. Great. Now teenage boys were ganging up on him using Charles-logic. When the hell did that happen?

At that moment, Hank and Raven re-entered the room. Raven's eyes showed the slightest hint that she'd been crying, but otherwise she appeared her normal self, if not the slightest bit more confident. The shy scientist seemed to have that effect on her. He trailed in behind her and the pair joined Alex and Sean near Erik.

Erik looked to the shapehifter. "I apologize for what I said before Raven. I-"

"Forget it. I'm pissed but I'm pretty sure that whatever you're going to say won't make anything any better. I accept your apology though. Now what are we going to do to get my brother back from that monster?"

Erik looked at the figures standing in front of him. He couldn't help but smile at the determination that shone in the eyes of the four mutants. There would be plenty of time later for him to blame himself for what happened to Charles. Now, it was time to plan a rescue mission.


Charles woke with a blinding headache. After a few tries, he managed to open his eyes fully to take stock of his surroundings. He was strapped to a table by his wrists, ankles and chest. The room was sparse, containing only the table he was lying on and the bright light above him. Straining his neck as much as he could to look around, he found that he was in a cell with metal bars which was inside a concrete room with one door. Metal bars meant that Erik wasn't around, at least not in the immediate vicinity. His captor wouldn't be that stupid. The door opened and Sebastian Shaw walked in.

"Charles! Excellent to see you awake!"

"What did you do to Erik?"

"Don't worry," Shaw said with a Cheshire grin. "I'd never kill my greatest creation. I was there for you and you alone."

Charles let out a small sigh of relief. At least he didn't have to worry about Erik. Now that that was out of the way, he gave the man standing over him the most stubborn look he could muster. "I won't join you Shaw. No matter what you do to me."

"Now how can you say that without even knowing what I'm capable of?"

"I've seen what you've done."

"Right. Erik's memories. Well, that's just part of my rather extensive arsenal. I've had to deal with a lot of mutants. Each one required different…strategies should we say? I know ways to help you reach your potential that you can't even dream of."

Charles just stared back at Shaw, hoping that perhaps his earlier proposed strategy of staring maliciously at him would make him die of terror. It didn't work.

"So, what, you're going to beat me until I do what you want?"

"Beat you? Oh no no no. Your power is mental not physical and should be trained as such. You forget…I had a telepath too. I know how to project my thoughts to you."

Without warning, Charles was assaulted with images of pain and suffering. He shut his eyes tightly and, on instinct, erected every mental barrier he could. Shaw looked down.

"Very good!" He sounded truly impressed. It was frightening.

"Now, let's see how you do with this."

Shaw put his hands on both sides of Charles' face. Charles barely had time to look confused before his head erupted in the worst pain he'd ever felt in his moderately short life. Soon the pain was accompanied by the images he'd blocked before. It felt like Cerebro increased tenfold. He tried to rebuild his mental barriers but the pain had shattered them beyond hope. The images were so strong he couldn't have blocked them anyway. They weren't just of mutants Shaw had tortured. He also felt every mutant within hundreds of miles of him, if not more. He could feel their pain as they were rejected by humanity. He felt every bit of suffering, all their fear and abandonment, every little twinge of emotion as they hid themselves from society. He tried to find some semblance of positive emotion but it was like they were being blocked by Shaw's projections.

Just when he thought he couldn't take it anymore, it stopped. Charles felt his body go lax. His throat was raw from a scream he hadn't known he'd been releasing. He was panting as he lifted his exhausted eyes to Shaw.

"What…the hell…did you do to me?" he managed to get out between pants.

"Did you like it? I've been practicing. You see, my power is energy-based. I took that energy and magnified your abilities with it. With your powers amplified, you can't block the images I project. You have so much potential power within you. I can tell." The last bit Shaw spoke as if he were encouraging a child.

"You're using my powers against me," Charles whispered in dismay.

"For the greater good."

"Good? None of those things you showed me were good."

"Oh Charles. So naïve. You have no idea the power you possess. I am going to show it to you. Then I'm going to show you how much better you are than these humans you insist on protecting. You need to see that we are the dominant species. You are going to join me. And you are going to do it willingly. I will break you down and rebuild you into something far better than you ever imagined you could be."

Charles could not longer hide the fear and horror from his face. Before he could formulate an answer, Shaw had his hands back on Charles' head and the pain began once again.


So there's the second chapter. Just to give you an idea of where things stand now with my rough ideas, this is going to be about 10 chapters, unless I change my mind about stuff. It's the longest I've ever written if I can pull it together the way I'm hoping to. Thanks again for all the reviews and alerts and favorites! They really help me with the writing, so keep it up :)