Chapter Four
"Alright mom, love you. I'll see you later." Allie called to her mother as she stepped out her front door, the air thankfully warmer. She was heading to Washington D.C. for the day, as the young mutant wanted to see the big speech and demonstration the President was to give. She heard briefly he would be discussing the matter of mutants, which obviously would be important to hear. Allie hadn't really gotten all the info pertaining to the details since her television cut out as she was watching the broadcast, so she figured she might as well go and see the event in person.
The blonde really just wanted to get out of the house and do something for herself, since the day with Peter raised her spirits. Staying at the cafe until five and pestering Stacey had been quite the show, and gave the two a much needed laugh. And it definitely numbed the pain of her father's death a little, helping the girl to forget for just a moment that the man was gone. Though as soon as it ended the reality came rushing back, but she reminded herself that baby steps were required for such a tedious time in her life. It wouldn't get better with just one day.
"Okay, please be careful. Love you!" Allie's mother called back from the kitchen. The young mutant nodded to herself, closing the front door and then began walking down the street. She was always careful, her mother didn't need to worry.
Half an hour later...
Allie finally made it to the White House, and the mass crowd that had gathered around it already. It seemed that it was a bigger event than most that occurred, and Allie was an hour early. She supposed people had that same idea as her.
Squeezing through the soon to be audience, Allie narrowly made her way up to the front of the line. She was surprised by how easily she was able to slip by people and they didn't notice. Maybe her small stature would come in handy for similar situations. Peter could give her tips on how to remain inconspicuous, although his super speed aided him in that department. Then maybe Allie would be shaped into the greatest sneaker of all time. Dipping in and out of alley ways without notice, taking down criminals in the dead of night. Sounded like a bad mystery novel. But she'd star in it without shame.
With that strange yet comical thought in mind, Allie strode through one of two metal detectors as the security guard beckoned her to. There was no suspicious ringing so she was set free to walk on into the seating section, since the second guard was arguing with a man who didn't have an invitation. The mutant just made a face and began walking away, realizing she was without one as well. It seemed that luck was on her side that day.
Before she could make it far however, there was a beep from the metal detector behind Allie. Out of curiosity to see what person was caught through the prying door, the blonde turned and spotted a man in a wheelchair rolling through the bars. Allie frowned and felt sympathy for him. Probably a war injury, she concluded with a sigh.
But as she looked closer, she noticed the man sitting looked very familiar; the long brown hair and blue eyes. And the young man behind him, pushing the chair looked as if she'd...
"No way," Allie whispered to herself as she recognized Charles and Hank, then Logan standing little ways behind them, being checked by security. The young mutant walked over to the trio excitedly, happy to see her friends safe from the apparently violent Paris trip.
"-these two are with me." Allie caught the last few of the professor's words as he spoke to the security guard. The taller man just nodded and allowed them to go along without the proof of being invited.
"Charles, Hank. Good to see you," Allie said as the two men turned to her. Charles frowned as Hank smiled up at her, squinting behind his glasses. Despite the spider antics he thought the young mutant was pretty nice, and he welcomed her quickly. Though below him in the wheelchair, Charles feared that Allie would be caught in the mix of violence that was sure to happen during the President's demonstration.
"Ah, hello Allie. Yes, yes good to see you too. How did you get in here? Do you have an invitation?" Charles asked, wondering how exactly the girl had made it inside. Surely the guards would have pondered over allowing a teenager strut straight on into a presidential speech.
Allie raised an eyebrow to the telepath.
"Do you have an invitation professor?" The girl answered with another question. Despite himself, Charles laughed at the slick response. He must say, the girl was pretty sly beneath all the innocent acts. Much like Peter, though he didn't try to make it look like he never stole anything in his life. Hell, the kid left a display of television sets in his basement, with all the price tags still pasted onto the frames. If that didn't scream thief, Charles didn't know what did.
"Very well. I would just… prepare yourself for the grand speech. And know where your exits are," Charles advised Allie, hoping that she'd take the hint. He mentally sent her another quick warning, just for reassurance.
'Raven may attempt to assassinate Trask today,' Allie listened to his words echo in her mind, bouncing off her every nerve. If she would've know that she most likely would've stayed home and just watched from their dysfunctional television.
Then Allie remembered her lack of help during the trip to the Pentagon. Maybe she could make up for it by aiding the men in stopping Mystique. Surely they would need it. Allie had never met the infamous woman before, but she could only assume that the blue mutant was unconvinced that their future relied on not killing Trask. And it would take a lot of coaxing to change Raven's mind.
Perhaps that was why Erik attacked her in Paris...
"You shouldn't stay Allie, it is far too dangerous," Charles almost begged the young girl, purposefully pooling his anxiety so she'd sense the danger. He didn't want someone so unfulfilled as Allie to get severely injured or maybe even killed that day. She had so much potential and it wasn't worth wasting on some sort of mutant rally. Nor did he want to be partially responsible for that weight.
"I… want to help though," Allie told Charles with wide and sincere eyes. She truly did want to give a hand because she felt as though she could really help the entire mutant cause that day. Allie was unable to be there for her father, but she would be there for her friends if it meant saving them.
"Just let her come, Xavier. I'll keep an eye on her," Logan reassured Charles as he stepped beside Allie, putting a hand on her shoulder. The future mutant knew what she was capable of, and felt somewhere in his gut that she would be able to somehow convince Raven to not kill Trask by showing her something she's scared of: losing more mutant lives at the hands of humans.
At that, Logan formed another plan.
The beginning of the demonstration...
Allie stood with the three mutants tensely as Charles continued on his desperate search for Raven. His telepathic abilities were slowly narrowing down on the assassin's location, and it would only be a short matter of minutes before the professor found her. His mind swept continuously through all the people that surrounded them.
Meanwhile, Allie herself was tuning out the speech, waiting for the point of it all to finally arrive. The bored blonde busied herself by observing the figures standing around the President. Eventually, her eyes fell down upon a very short man, whom she knew to be Trask. The mutant didn't receive a nice vibe from the dwarfed scientist. Just by seeing his cold gaze, she could tell he seemed as though he would go to inhumane lengths to fulfill his research.
Then, Allie's attention was turned to a strong looking man beside him, wearing an olive green military uniform. He had a stern expression on his features, and a very rigid stature. There was something intriguing about him, as Allie always became obsessed with people who seemed to put up stoic walls. She admired their fears the most, because people like him were able to hide it so well.
Not being able to help herself, the girl dove into his mind like jumping into a pool. Except this wouldn't be a nice swim. Because right as she delved deep, Allie was struck with images that she never could have imagined. His anxiety over failed research- experiments. She saw glimpses of bloodied mutants, exposed and tied to tables. They were all dead. She caught sight of the long and dark corridors, the showers, the cells. His mind was true horror, and she left as soon as she could.
The blonde's heart stopped as all the chilling fears left her. Allie felt as though she was going to be sick and swayed slightly onto Logan's arm. Though he didn't notice, as his attention was tunneled to the President's words.
"-behold, the world will never be the same, again," the President's words rang out through the audience as the large, patriotic curtain fell from behind the stage, revealing menacing looking robots. It was something Allie had never seen before in her life. Not even sci-fi movies could pull off the gigantic beings. The blondes panicked mind began to push itself over the edge between the haunting images and the new robotic discovery.
Were they really serious about eliminating life of the mutants? Who was the real monster then?
Allie looked over at Logan, remembering the plan clear in her mind. Though many other worried thoughts clouded around the goal, making it hard to concentrate.
"Raven," Charles said from below. "I have her," he told the other three mutants. "There- see. Secret Service man by the left of the stage," Allie and the other two men ran over to where Raven was just barely pulling out what seemed to be a gun. As they were meandering through the crowd, the Trask robots began to turn on, activating a hover system from their backs. Allie saw that the short man looked very confused, and turned to the stoic man.
Out of nowhere, a security guard broke their steady pace to Mystique.
"Young lady, gentlemen, I cannot let you pass this point," he informed them, holding his arms out and over Hank and Logan. The robots began to fly even higher at the mutants interruption. Then, without being told to, the Trask creations aimed their mechanical arms at the police.
What was happening?
Without warning, the robots opened fire on the innocent officers causing much chaos throughout the audience. Everyone began scattering around the lawn, making the entire situation all the more scary.
Logan quickly grabbed Allie's arm and pulled her away from the general vicinity of where the bots were shooting. Hank led them over to a car where they could take cover, but the Trask creations shot straight over it, causing the transport to explode to flames. Allie fell to the ground with a thud.
"Agh," she groaned, getting up. A large shadow moved over her and the two men. The blonde confusedly looked up to find a large ring floating above them, crumbled concrete falling from it. It looked like the seats in which surrounded a sporting stadium, but why in the hell was it in the sky? She didn't have long to ponder why on earth it was in the air, because it seemed to be coming down nearer and nearer to the ground; very, very fast.
"Charles!" Logan yelled, making a heavy sprint to the disabled telepath, Hank right on his heels. Allie tried to keep up with their long strides, fearing the she might be squashed by the falling and broken stadium seats.
The giant ring crashed to the ground and the three mutants had luckily made it. They ran the rest of the way until they found Erik in the center of the conflict. Slowly, so as not to alert the metal manipulating mutant they were there, the trio climbed up onto the debris surrounding the presentation, peeking over the top of a broken concrete pillar to see what was happening.
"Probably not supposed to ask this kind of thing, but… in the future do I make it?" Hank asked Logan as they observed the sight before them. Erik was standing with the Trask bots as if they were his small army. He must've been the one making them go off command and attack all the police officers and civilians. Allie frowned at the cruelty of the situation. Did he think he was making the mutant race look better by doing so? In Allie's opinion, she thought it was insane. 'We want respect so we are going to destroy everything you love,' like, what?
"No," Logan told the young man, brutally honest. Hank looked at him, obviously not expecting the answer to come out as such. "But we can change that," Logan confirmed, with his voice openly determined. He was ready to change the way of history, and make sure that all his friends survived- the entire mutant race.
"What about me?" Allie asked out of pure curiosity. Though she was afraid to know the answer, seeing as how Logan was a bit harsh.
"Yeah, last I remember you were sitting with Charles when I came here," Allie smiled, feeling slightly better knowing that she was a survivor in the cold future. Though hopefully after that day, she wouldn't have to consider herself a survivor in any way by the hands of Trask.
Hank frowned, almost as if he thought the situation unfair. Ignoring it, he turned and took off his glasses, handing them to Allie. She took them and tucked them safely within her shirt pocket. Within a few moments, the young man had taken his second form, turning into a blue, furry beast. Being in his more angry self, Hank growled, catching Erik's attention.
The enemy mutant turned and looked to the Trask bot.
"Do what you were made for," he commanded the murderous creation. The robot steadily turned to the trio, raising its arm towards them, obviously about to open fire.
Allie let out a breath. They were targets.
The robot began raining bullets on the three mutants unmercifully. Logan pushed Allie down before she got shot, and she tumbled off the heap of debris. The young mutant took the chance to duck beneath a large tin plank. Though hiding wouldn't suffice as the bot flew towards the mutants. It landed straight in front of Logan and began swinging its mechanical arms at him. His claws escaped and dug themselves in the gattling gun in the bots arm, ceasing it's shooting.
But Logan couldn't hold his position long, as the Trask bot overpowered the mutant in strength greatly and threw him off his feet. It began walking out of sight, until Hank stepped in- or more like super leaped in. The beast landed on the bots head as it began shooting once more. Further ways off Logan ran using Hank's distraction to his advantage. They needed to stop Erik, and fighting the bot wasn't going to allow that.
Tearing out multiple wires and tubes from the back of the bots head, Hank attempted to pull a vital contributor to the Trask creations power. The mutants reckless actions were futile however, and the bot easily threw the beast off it's back like swatting away a fly.
Allie couldn't tell where the blue mutant landed, but it was enough for her to know that she didn't stand a chance against the mechanical weapon. If she stayed there beneath the debris long enough, the bot would eventually seek her out, so Allie had to think of some plan to escape. But she came up empty after a few moments of frantic thinking. Her mind was too cluttered to form something new, all the blonde had was the bits of the plan before everything went to shit.
Allie had to find Mystique. And fast, so the whole thing would be over.
The young mutant furrowed her eyebrows and hoped to whoever was listening that she would be able to make it through the day without dying. Then she ran.
Straight past the bot which had its back turned to her, and right over to the center of the ring. Allie found that she was running to where Erik and Logan were. The closer she came to the pair, the better she could see as metal rods protruding from a concrete block pushed themselves into her friend's flesh at the hands of Magneto. She could hear Logan's gruesome screams of pain then, as he was levitating in the air, slowly easing his way higher and higher.
"So much for being a survivor," Erik said, more so to himself than to Logan, and sent the other mutant soaring through the sky, far away from the political stadium. Allie watched as her friend flew out of sight, only to land in an unknown area. Then, the enemy turned to her, eyes pinning the girl down. She was within only a few yards from the other mutant; the one who was responsible for many deaths that day.
Allie gulped.
"Are you going to try to stop me as well?" Erik asked the young girl as he slowly moved a metal rod to weave through the debris, only to approach his ready hand. Allie knew he wouldn't hesitate to end her, as his lack of compassion frightened the young mutant yet didn't quite surprise her either.
"Not with the helmet on," Allie told him shakily. Her powers were useless if she couldn't reach the mad man's head. Though she wasn't very sure she wanted to peer inside. Charles had certainly made a show of how he never wanted to go back when they were in the elevator at the Pentagon.
"I had faith in you. Now enjoy the show..." Erik said, turning with his hands extended out in front of himself, the rod falling to the ground harmlessly. Allie assumed he was searching for some sort of secret bunker, created for situations such as the complete destruction of the President's front lawn.
Allie quickly ducked beneath more debris as something large flew out of the White House, causing most of the building to crumple in on itself. The young mutant looked towards what exactly landed just beyond Erik and herself, and found that it was some sort of metal box, with a single turn door in it.
Magneto gestured with his arms and ripped away the front wall of the box, and confiscated all the weapons from inside the bunker, pointing them towards the then exposed men. It was definitely a dramatic turn of the tables. Now Allie understood why Erik called it a show...
Adding more emphasis to the connection, the mutant turned all the television cameras onto himself, so he could give the entire Nation his very own speech and demonstration.
Somewhere outside of D.C….
Peter sat in his basement after a long day of harsh video game playing and pastry eating. And all that could fulfill his entire lazy after party for beating his high score in Pong, was the television. And it just so happened that when he flicked on the power, the news was airing a live segment… of Erik?
Peter frowned as he watched as the man started speaking to all who were listening. Behind him was the result of absolute chaos.
"You built these weapons to destroy us," Erik began, turning his head to peer at the men inside the bunker yet. "Why? Because you are afraid of our gifts… because we are different?"
Peter was surprised to find a hint of sadness in the man's voice as he spoke, like he was speaking out of years of agony. But as the mutant thought more of it, how could he not. A scientist was making robots for the sake of destroying the mutant race, if Peter had read the right research as before. It was sick- murderous. The young mutant couldn't help but sympathize with Erik on that matter.
"Humanity has always feared that which is different," Erik turned to face the cameras. Peter zoomed upstairs to find Wanda watching the same event, but from a different angle. The mutant sat his sister in his lap and observed the television carefully. "But I'm here to tell you, to tell the world, you're right to fear us. We are the future! We are the ones who will inherit earth."
Peter frowned once more as he saw a little blonde girl kneeling behind a cheap white chair, almost out of the camera's frame. Was that Allie?
The gray haired mutant was no longer paying attention to the speech as he carefully set his sister on the couch and sped past his mother whom he had not known was watching, into the kitchen, where their phone was located. Quickly Peter dialed Allie's number, waiting for someone to pick up. He secretly hoped it was the girl in which he thought he saw on T.V.
"Hello?" An older sounding voice answered. It wasn't Allie's, but it still sounded cracked and sore. Peter's heart dropped.
"Hi is Allie there?" The mutant asked almost too quickly. He was afraid Allie's mother wouldn't understand any of the nervous words tumbling from his mouth. Peter thought maybe Allie could sense his fear all the way from the White House, but he wasn't sure how far her mind stretched.
Though he was certain his panic was louder than most.
"No, she went to the demonstration in D.C. Is this Peter?" The women asked politely.
"Yesgottagosorrybye!" Peter babbled a farewell and quickly went back down into his basement to see if he could find the channel his sister had been watching, the one with Allie in the frame.
"-I give you a glimpse of the devastation my race can unleash upon yours," Peter heard Erik's words come choppy as he flipped through the stations. Each one was broadcasting the speech, so every possible angle was available to the mutant. He happened to come across a frame the was better than the one upstairs in their living room.
Peter could see clearly that Allie was in fact there, taking cover on her knees by a chair. He would have laughed at how tiny she was that she could hide her entire body with one chair if she hadn't been in great danger. The blonde was staring at Erik, fear in her own eyes. It killed Peter to watch the scene.
"Let this be a warning for the world. And to my mutant brothers and sisters out there," Erik gestured to Allie with a nod."I say this: no more hiding. No more suffering. You have lived in the shadows and shame and fear for too long. Come out, join me. Fight together in a Brotherhood of our kind." Peter observed as Erik became stronger in the way he represented the mutants, and Allie sank deeper towards the ground with every one of his words.
"A new tomorrow starts today," Erik ended, almost patriotically.
There was a commotion from inside the bunker which Peter had only noticed being displayed in that moment. Allie jumped at the sudden noise. The President was stepping out of the crowded chamber carefully. Some men were grabbing at his sleeves, in attempts to keep him safe within. Though it probably wasn't very safe any longer.
"Stand down! I said stand down," the President rasped, brushing off the pleading hands at his arm as he walked towards Erik. The mutant turned to the leader. "You wanna make a statement?" The President said, jabbing a finger in the mutants direction.
"Kill me, fine. But spare everyone else," the man stood with his hands up and out, as Erik slowly strode towards him.
"Very heroic Mr. President. But you have no intention of sparing any of us," Erik told him, Peter could sense anger weaved carefully through his words. "The future of our species begins now," Allie stood up and took a few troubled steps away. Peter couldn't see it, but something must've been coming at the mutants, for Erik raised his arm, a few light colored pieces of metal slid along the grass into the camera's line of sight, the parts glinting in the sun. Must've been one of the Trask robots that Erik was able to quickly disarm.
Suddenly, the president pulled a clear gun out from inside his jacket, using the distraction to shoot Erik in the neck. Peter sat motionless on his couch, as he saw Allie jump, and the President become the blue woman he had seen on T.V. the other day. Mystique.
She limped towards the floored mutant. His hand was covering his bloodied neck. Peter could tell Erik was speaking, but it was too quiet to be caught by the microphones.
"Trust...still -m," Was all Peter could pick up from Raven as she performed a flying kick straight to Erik's helmeted face. Then she sent the gun in her hand right onto his head, knocking the metal manipulator out completely. Mystique then pointed the gun straight at Trask. But something stopped her from pulling the trigger.
"Get back outta my head Charles!" Raven yelled, her gun still raised to a man standing within the bunker. The Trask man was frozen.
Raven began to talk to no one, though Peter had an idea of what was happening. Allie seemed confused as well, and just stood by, watching idly. She was ready to complete the task as soon as she could grasp the blue mutants attention.
"Look around you, we already are," Mystique said to the telepath, in response to his unheard words. The women stood for another few moments, contemplating her choices, until a new voice spoke up, ready to add her own coaxing to the mix.
"Raven," Allie said, making Peter intake a sharp breath. He had no idea what she was doing. Challenging someone with a weapon? "Let me at least show you what is to come. I can tell you fear losing more innocent mutants to Trask, but just give me a chance," she said, loud enough for the mic to broadcast.
The blue mutant neither nodded nor shook her head, just stared at the little blonde girl before her. Without hesitation, Allie delved into the woman's mind, showing her just what exactly the future held for them.
And the image was a very, very harsh one. There fields upon fields full of decaying, mutant bodies. The neon concentration camps, the skies dark with sunless days. The thick smoke burning bodies and smell of the dying mutant race. The anxiety of knowing you were soon to be joining them.
Allie began to cry, just as a few tears fell from Raven's eyes.
"If you do this, they take everything from us," Allie began, her hands extended out to the mutant. "You see how they are exterminating us all, even their own kind. And you lose yourself because of the decision that you originally make," the blonde's hands began to shake, as she watched the vision she created, herself.
"Please, just take this vision- this future, into consideration," Allie sobbed as she witnessed Raven's future self be dumped onto another pile of lifeless bodies. The blonde couldn't bare to allow herself and the mutant across from her see the memory of Logan's any longer, and put her hand back to her side. Allie shakily returned to the chair she had been hiding behind, and took a seat, her head in her hands.
She was scared. Scared that Raven would make the choice to kill Trask and doom them, now that she knew what was coming.
Peter's eyes were glued to the small mutant on the screen, not noticing as the politicians moved back into motion, and Raven stood yet with her gun pointed directly at Trask. The blue mutant was still shaking with shock of what she just saw, all her fears set into one image given to her by another mutant, who was plagued as well.
Then, Raven decided, it wasn't worth it. None of it. Whatever the other mutant had shown her, it shouldn't happen. She dropped her gun. It wouldn't happen. The blue mutant turned and pulled Erik's helmet off, saying a few last words before she strode out of the way.
"He's all yours Charles," that was all the telepath needed to hear before he took control of Erik's mind, making the mutant stand up, completely conscious. The professor used the man's manipulations to free himself of the debris in which had fallen on his legs. Hank helped Charles to his feet.
Meanwhile, Peter allowed his eyes to find Erik back to a standing position.
"If you let them have me, I'm as good as dead," Erik said to Charles, who was just barely in the wide camera frame. "You know that."
Charles nodded. "I know."
"Goodbye old friend." The other man said, bidding farewell to the professor.
"Goodbye, Erik." Charles said, still clinging onto Hank for support. He watched as the mutant levitated himself into the air, with one last glance at Raven, and flew out of the stadium.
There was a silent exchange of goodbyes between Mystique and the other two men standing there. Then the blue mutant left the view. Leaving just the men in the bunker, and the three mutants.
Peter couldn't take it any longer, watching as Allie was yet trying to stop her tears from falling. He knew that the mess around her wouldn't do much aid and comfort for her emotional state, and figured he should do something. The gray haired mutant would need to go get her somewhere better, since no one else was going to do it.
In a flash Peter was wearing his silver jacket and his goggles, and was running at impossible speeds to the White House. Once he got to the giant seating ring surrounding the exact place he needed to go, Peter quickly ran twice around it before he found a small opening in which he could squeeze through.
In the meantime, Allie was tired. She felt broken from the sight she had seen. Taking Logan's fearful vision and passing it onto Raven was too much. Seeing it the first time was a shock, and then sending it to someone else was even worse. Because the second time Allie was able to delve deep into it, feeding off three fears at the same time.
Logan's, Raven's… and her own.
The very image of watching fields full of bodies, mounds of people who were killed no matter guilty or innocent, was a nightmare. A nightmare which repeats itself over and over again in one's head, without any mercy.
The only thought slowly pushing away all the fear and worry from the mutants mind was the fact that the trigger wasn't pulled, and in all actuality, Raven had spared all mutants and carriers of the gifted gene.
"-llie, Allie. Are you okay? Answer me, please," the blonde hadn't notice someone talking to her, or how they grabbed her hands and placed them within theirs.
Allie looked up to see a pair of dark, worried eyes peering into hers. Peter, the name in her mind was a relief.
"Take me away from here," was all the crumpled girl said to him, and Peter instantly took her within his arms and sped them away from the stadium, and out to a secluded area. One of his favorite places to visit. An abandoned playground.
The quick mutant set Allie down inside a covered red cube, in the center of four slides. Peter seated himself aside her, and took a deep breath. He wanted to comfort the girl, but yet not be too pushy. The mutant didn't know if space was needed in the situation.
"I don't even know why I'm so upset," Allie said blankly. "Nothing bad's gonna happen. Raven didn't kill Trask. We're saved," Peter said nothing, just put his arm around the girl's shoulders. He summed up that space was not needed.
"Was it a vision?" Peter asked after a few minutes. He wanted to understand what happened.
"It was a reality. One that just so happened to go with Raven's fears. One qualified to be shown to her," Allie took a deep breath. She was ready to tell Peter what she felt, and why she was so scared.
"I could feel what I would have felt in the future. It was strange, something I never knew my abilities would allow. And… and I could sense that something was missing. My friends from that time were almost all dead. Even you." Allie leaned into Peter, using his touch to convince herself he wasn't leaving. That no one was leaving. She couldn't shake away the shock of the vision off her.
"And I could also feel how empty my heart was. How almost every last shred of it was ripped away," Peter looked down at her. "I'm just glad it won't happen now."
The young man beside Allie nodded, himself happy that the vision she had witnessed wouldn't turn into the reality it once was. He had too much to lose now.