The low rumble of the car engine filled the cab between the two men.
"She was the freshest lead I had to finding Shaw," Erik said.
Charles held the wheel tightly, three and eleven, as he maneuvered through the streets of London. An electric current of danger kept him alert for any potentially lethal movements from his reluctant passenger. The telepath could freeze Erik with a single thought, but that would most definitely not lead to the kind of team spirit that Charles hoped they might share.
"Aren't you the least bit curious about how many other mutants are out there?"
"Mutants? You've gone and named us, have you?"
"It's a legitimate title for our blossoming species, Erik. The mutations in our DNA that allow us to possess these...powers...have made us the next step in the evolution of mankind."
"You seem to have put a lot of thought into that."
"Haven't you?"
Charles sent Erik a sideways glance and studied the man's rigid profile. It only occurred to Charles at that moment how uncomfortable the other mutant appeared in his suit and tie. The gray eyes were focuses straight ahead, but Charles had a feeling that the man was cataloging his every movement. So much intensity ran just under the calm exterior.
"I've had other things to think about...I thought you read my mind. Don't you already know all of this?"
"It was a cursory read. Mostly, I was trying to decipher whether you meant to murder Amelia or if there was a secondary agenda."
"Hm."
"I don't do it as a rule unless I feel the situation warrants it."
"How do you define a warranted situation?"
Charles shrugged and turned onto the street where his hotel sat nestled between several other buildings.
"Depends."
"Oh, very enlightening."
The blue eyes twinkled gayly. "I'm going to invite you up to my room, but I must insist that you leave the gun and the case in the car."
Erik tensed.
"We are going to have to start trusting one another at some point," the professor said.
A loud bang followed the door to its frame and Charles jumped in surprise. Erik studied the semi-darkened room with a critical eye. The bed was a mess, blankets and sheets strewn across the floor and a half-eaten tray from room service sat atop the small round table by the window. It had been a good night.
"I see your hardships are taken in stride."
Charles ignored the dig and emptied one of the chairs, moving its load of research papers to an unoccupied space on the table. He perched himself on the edge of the bed and waited until the other man was seated.
"Now, then, we must discuss the matter of Sebastian Shaw and how best to proceed."
Erik nodded.
Charles knitted his hands behind his neck. "It makes sense that we team up to stop him and I ran across a memory of yours from several weeks ago. A little nugget that you heard in passing. I believe it may have slipped your mind, but since I have dug it up we should dust it off and give it a good looking at."
"What memory are you talking about?"
"Small town several hundred miles from here, main street, people walking all about and you were on the hunt for a bakery assistant – he had worked as Shaw's personal guard in the camps – and just as you were turning a corner a woman ran into you."
"Yes, I remember now."
"Do you remember what she called you?"
"No, I can't...wait. She said, 'all you American Federal men are the same, graceless dogs'."
"Yes, she did."
"What does that have to do with Shaw?"
"I don't believe you were the only one looking for that bakery assistant. The F.B.I. Have been busy in recent years catching former Nazis and either giving them a fair trial or hiring them on for American projects. Despicable business."
Erik frowned down at the table, his eyes drawn to the food and a rather loud rumble sounded from his stomach. Charles dropped his hands with a stricken expression.
"Good god, man, that's right. You haven't eaten in at least two days."
The academic stood to his feet and walked to the bedside table where he dialed a number on the phone and raised the receiver to his ear.
"Room services, please, thank you...Yes, I would like two meals brought up directly. I understand. No, we won't be needing champagne. Thank you."
He returned the handset to its cradle.
"I hope you like tomato soup. Seems the cook is out with a cold."
"Tomato soup is fine, but you didn't have to..."
Charles smiled softly. "Of course not, but you are my guest here and we will be working together for a little while at least. I refuse to allow the possibility of you dropping unconscious from lack of food if it can be helped."
The lack of overt charity seemed to relax the Nazi hunter somewhat and Erik nodded in acceptance.
"So, back to Shaw," the gray eyed man directed the conversation.
Charles began to pick up the strewn bedding and dump it on top of the bed.
"Yes, about Shaw. The point I was going to make earlier about the baker assistant and the woman. If the F.B.I. Are that interested in a guard, you can be damned sure they have been following the movements of someone as high level as Sebastian Shaw."
"How are we going to get that information from them?"
Charles pulled a face. "I could read their minds and we would have all the technical knowledge at our disposals, but." Here he looked at Erik. "I think it might go smoother if we insinuate ourselves into their midst and use them to capture Shaw."
"How?"
"I can implant suggestions into peoples minds."
"You can control them?"
"Control is such an ugly word. I persuade people into seeings things in a different light."
"Don't belittle your power, Charles, it is unbecoming."
There was a knock on the door and Erik rose, instincts taking over, but the professor waved away his concern.
"It is only room service." He tapped two fingers to his temple. "I know."
A moment later Charles returned with a large silver platter that held two steaming bowls of red soup. The telepath could feel the other mans hunger and he quickly put the food down, taking one of the warm bowls for himself before sitting back on the edge of the bed. Erik pulled his own bowl towards himself as he re-took his seat. It was the most mouth watering thing the German thought he had ever smelled.
"Thank you, Charles."
"Mm. No need to mention it."
A crumpled napkin fell to the floor when Charles opened the sliding glass door that lead to the balcony. A soft breeze ruffled his curly brown hair and he breathed in deep.
"God, I love the city."
"Don't get here often?"
The academic returned to the bed giving up a short snort of derision. "Hardly ever. Raven, that's my sister -ooh, you'll have to meet her too- hates it when I'm away for too long. She's worried I'll hook up with some woman and never come back to the mans."
"Mans? Being a bit pretentious there, aren't we, Charles?"
"Hm. Hardly."
Their empty bowls sat stacked inside each other on the silver platter which had been shoved next to the previous meals remnants.
"Let me reiterate your rather brilliant plan just to be sure I've got all the parts," Erik said.
"By all means."
"You intend to infiltrate the F.B.I., and use their manpower to force Shaw out into the open."
"Precisely."
"How exactly are we going to finance this little fairy tale of yours?"
Charles smirked even as he felt a bit guilty about all the opportunities he had been gifted that the man sitting across from him had never dreamed existed. Life was a bitch and it took meeting Erik Lehnsherr for the professor to realize just how much of one she could be. Work camps.
"That won't be a problem. Although, I should warn you that Raven will most definitely impose herself on our little adventure."
"She doesn't like to give you a very long leash, does she, this sister of yours?" Erik chuckled.
The blue eyes rolled towards the ceiling. "Just wait until you meet her."
Erik shifted then, the suit pulling across his broad shoulders, and he crossed his arms over his chest in a defensive posture. We are not friends.
"If we do this, I'm not going to be taking orders from you, professor."
"I'd say your gun in my car says differently."
Erik bristled. "That was a show of good faith."
"Indeed. I did not mean to imply that you were anything other than a full partner in this endeavor. I want to help you -as a fellow mutant and human being- and you want to kill Shaw. I see no reason why our goals have to be mutually exclusive."
"Then it's settled."
"Yes, I will phone Raven tonight and we'll be in the air headed for America by mid-day tomorrow."
Erik looked pointedly at the bed with it's pile of messed blankets and Charles blushed a little around the neck.
"I'll have room service send in anther bed. I'm sure it will be no trouble."
"No need, the floor will be fine."
"Hm." Charles ran a hand over his chin. "A cot, perhaps?"
After a brief hesitation Erik inclined his head.
"Excellent," the professor said.
"What are we going to do about Amelia, that lawyer is bound to get involved. She might have already alerted Shaw to the fact that some mad man with a gun was asking about him."
"No, Erik, I tweaked her memory a bit. She barely remembers meeting either one of us."
"Controlled, you controlled her memories. Own your power, Charles."
He sighed. "Erik, has anyone ever told you, you could be a bit repetitive."
"They never stop."
There was a beat of absolute silence followed by a burst of shared laughter. The room was dark with only the passing lights of cars moving the shadows around the walls. Neither man was finding sleep an easy state to achieve and so they had fallen into a companionable mode of chatting.
"Your sister, does she know about your power?"
"My mutation? Mm-hm, yes."
"And?"
Charles frowned and brushed his temple with two fingers. How is she not afraid of you and what you can do? The brown haired man felt sad that such a question would be at the forefront of Erik's mind.
"I promise once you meet her you won't have to wonder any more."
There was a disapproving silence and Charles felt duly chastised for having invaded the other man's thoughts. He was so used to it, that it came second nature to him even though Raven had worked hard to break him of the habit. Not reading people's minds was like not looking at the pages of a book you were trying to read. It was maddening.
"You do know that killing Shaw will not solve your problem, right? I'm not judging, just pointing out the facts," Charles said.
He heard Erik shift in the darkness and the cot squeaked in protest.
"It is something I have to do."
"I can accept that...for now."
Outside another passing car briefly lit up the bed and Erik could see the pensive expression on his hosts young face. All of the confidence that the professor showcased to the world seemed undercut by the youth of the man. Erik was beginning to doubt if their alliance would be strong enough, but then he remembered just what kind of psychic power the unassuming man held at his disposal. He could change thoughts to suit his needs.
Shaw, broken and mindless, laying on a hospital bed without a future. The imagined scene seemed almost more attractive than killing the murderous Nazi outright.
Charles cleared his throat and turned into his pillow, steadfastly ignoring any thoughts his companion might be having at that moment. Privacy, everyone deserved privacy, Raven would say with that disapproving blue pout.
A silver glint ricocheted off the gun when Erik surreptitiously threw it into the dumpster at the request of his companion. He had grumbled and complained but ultimately relented because Charles had been right, getting it onto a plane would have been next to impossible.
"There, it's gone," the German announced once he had returned to the passenger seat of the car.
"Excellent. Now, Raven will be meeting us at the plane in twenty minutes."
Charles pulled them back onto the road and they sped out of town going a few miles over the posted speed limit. Excitement bubbled up between them in the small cab, but neither man had anything to say. A long stretch of county road later they were pulling into a medium sized airport.
"Where are you going?" Erik demanded when Charles drove past the parking lot and out into the cement field toward the hangers.
"I'm sorry, I thought I'd told you. There were no commercial flights to Washington today, I had to charter a plane."
Erik's eyes went wide. "You bought a whole plane?"
"Just for the day. Don't look so impressed, it's not like I'll be flying it personally. Now that would be a trick."
Erik shook his head as they approached a good sized aircraft where a taxi was already waiting. Charles pulled up behind it and put the car into park before hopping out with a fluid motion. Erik followed, more reserved, his eyes taking in every inch of the field and the plane.
One of the back doors of the taxi opened and a pair of long pale legs swung out followed by a lithe young blond woman who looked graceful enough to be a dancer. Erik felt genuine appreciation for her beauty although she was several years too young for his tastes. She exchanged a few hurried whispers with Charles before smiling hesitantly.
"You must be Erik Lehnsherr. I'm Raven." She walked over and shook his hand. "My brother told me you would be joining us...and...you're a mutant."
"Yes, I am."
He waited for her blue eyes to shutter and turn cold, for her to look at him like an object to be pitied or reviled, but nothing happened. She blinked a few times and then her mouth turned upward in an almost-smile.
"Me too."
His jaw must have dropped at her unexpected confession because he found himself closing it with a sharp click.
"I -I thought Charles..."
Erik turned to the blue eyed academic with a questioning look, his mouth working silently.
"Surprise."
Raven laughed, the sound musical. "My brother, the idiot."
Charles frowned at the insult, but his face lit up again a second later and he pulled his sister in to a hug, kissing her head.
"Enough prattle. Lets go, shall we?"
He lead the way toward the stairs that had descended from the aircraft, Erik and Raven following.
The pillow flew through the air having been tossed from its storage compartment by an increasingly agitated Charles Xavier. Erik watched the man's single minded search for something with bemusement.
"Raven! Where's the chess set? I told you to bring the chess set!" he called over his shoulder.
The door to the bathroom swung open, banging against the wall.
"It's in the bag next to Erik's feet."
Charles hurried over to the black shoulder bag sitting unobtrusively beside the seat the German had claimed and hurriedly dug through it. After several moment the frantic action produced a wooden box.
"Found it!"
Erik grimaced and leaned away from the jubilant man. Pillows, blankets and a few odds and ends were still scattered throughout the cabin from his hunt, but Charles paid them no mind and instead got to work setting up the travel chess set on a small folding table that separated the two men.
"There."
The professor surveyed his work once the pieces were all in place.
"Which do you prefer, Erik, black or white?"
"Black."
Charles turned the board and made the first move. It proved to be a nice distraction and Erik even found himself enjoying the cat-and-mouse strategy game. The flight would be long and it staved off any inevitable boredom.
Raven came to sit on the floor between them, her eyes following every move like she was personally invested on the outcome. It took almost an hour for the first game to end with a marginal win by Charles.
"Ha! Pay up, Raven."
The blond haired woman glared at the chess board, but pulled a couple of bills from her pocket and grudgingly handed them over to her brother.
"Re-match?" she suggested.
Erik smiled at the sibling rivalry. He used to have that – back before the war tore apart his family. He fell into a dark brood as Charles reset the pieces on the board. Neither host noticed his distanced behavior as the world fell monochromatic around him.