Chapter 5
He that seeks trouble never misses
They stood shoulder to shoulder in the hanger, wearing the yellow and blue team uniforms that Hank had made and stared at the jet.
"Is that going to fly?" Raven asked with wide yellow eyes. The jet was magnificent, a sleek body and futuristic feel to it. They had never seen technology so advanced before.
"It better be better then these uniforms." Alex grumbled, picking at the skin hugging material.
"It's not so bad." Sean said with a grin, eyes sliding sideways to glance at Evie who stood next to him. She frowned and crossed her arms over her chest and stepped away from him.
"I think Hank is a pervert." Evie pouted, feeling uncomfortable in the form fitting uniform. She felt uncomfortable in the clothing and felt very exposed.
Raven laughed and pulled at the zipper to her uniform to try and make it a little more comfortable before pointing to Alex.
"At least you don't have a giant circle on your chest." She stated. Alex groaned and rolled his eyes.
"It's to help focus my mutation." He argued.
"It looks stupid." Raven deadpanned.
"I-"
"-Enough" Charles yelled, rubbing his forehead with a hand, he could feel a headache coming on.
"Where is Hank?" Darwin asked as he walked towards the jet curiously. He jumped back in fright when a large blue haired monster jumped out from the jet's bay doors and stalked towards them. "…Hank?" Darwin asked as he shuffled back into the group behind him.
The blue hairy beast tugged at his fur and shrugged. "It seems that the mutation gene that I found accelerates mutation…not reverses it." He growled sheepishly. The other mutants were stunned at the change in his appearance and voice.
"Whoa, you're like a freakin' beast." Alex stated with wide eyes. Hank growled low in his throat and lunged at Alex who stepped aside and almost fell into Evie. "It was a compliment, you look totally badass."
Evie rolled her eyes and shoved Alex off of her. "Are you alright Hank?" she stepped forward and laid a hand on his furry arm, patting it lightly. He turned his yellow eyes onto Evie and smiled, showing fangs that glinted in the fluorescent lights.
"Heh…mutant and proud, yeah?" Hank asked nervously. Raven stepped forward and laid her own blue hand over Hank's and Evies.
"Yeah…mutant and proud." She repeated with a wide grin.
"This is all lovely, but the world is about to go to hell…so shouldn't we get a move on?" Sean asked, his eyes narrowed at Evie's hand on Hank's arm and a pout on his lips.
"Sean's right, let's see how fast we can fly this thing." Erik grunted and moved past the other mutants and towards the jet.
Hank and Charles sat at the front of the jet, working the controls and getting the pre-flight check done. Erik made sure that everyone was buckled in to their seats before taking his own beside Moira. He glanced at the human CIA agent with a frown before turning to face the blue mutant woman in front of him.
"I don't like flying." Darwin said, wiping his brow with a shaking hand.
"Who does?" Sean muttered. Evie grabbed both of their hands and squeezed tightly.
"We'll be fine." She reassured with a tight smile.
"Do you think we are prepared for this? For saving the world from nuclear war?" Raven asked nervously as she turned to look at Erik.
Charles and Hank in front of the jet announced take off procedures and everyone held tightly to their harness as the jet lifted off the ground.
"We will soon find out." Erik said seriously, his eyes hard and lips pressed into a thin line.
The jet shuddered once and then they were off, flying as fast as they could towards the Russian ship.
XxX
They had been flying in relative silence for two hours, Darwin had spoken to Erik about tactics for when they found the Russian ship and then how they would look for Shaw. Their plan of attack was to find Shaw first and then stop the Russian missiles. With Shaw out of the way they were confident they would be able to stop the oncoming war with the help of Moira and Charles working together.
"How do you think Shaw is following the Russian ship? Do you think he is on it?" Darwin questioned with a raised eyebrow, his dark eyes distant as he thought about the puzzle.
"How will we find him? Doesn't he have that crazy helmet thing that stops Charles from being able to find him and read his thoughts?" Raven questioned.
"He surrounds himself with known mutants and Charles should be able to get a read on them. If not then we should be able to find their ship with the instruments on this jet." Erik answered with a grim smile. "We will find him and then take care of the problem."
"Ok team, we are coming up to the Russian ship, we will begin scanning the area for anything out of the ordinary, focus yourselves and get ready for battle." Charles called from the front seat, his fingers to his temple to better focus his mutation. Hank called out readings and banked the jet to fly closer to the water for better visual.
"You find anything yet?" Alex called, his neck straining to see the front of the jet as there were no windows in the back of the jet.
"Nothing yet," Hank yelled back.
"Wait a minute…" Evie said…she quickly unbuckled her belt and moved towards the front of the jet.
"Evie, get back here." Sean and Darwin called at the same time but the blonde ignored both of them and she narrowed her eyes as she scanned the water before her.
"If Shaw made a helmet where you can't read his mind then what's stopping him from making a ship that your mutation cannot penetrate either?" she asked. She startled as a large hand clasped her firmly on the shoulder.
"Or a submarine." Erik murmured. "Get back to your seat Evie… Charles, we may not be able to find him if he is underwater…we need to go straight for the Russian vessel."
"No, it's not too late…Sean can find the ship." Evie said with a glance back at the redhead who was struggling to get out of his restraints.
"What do you mean, Evie?" Charles asked with a raised eyebrow, now giving her his full attention.
"Sean and I…we've been practicing with his mutation…he can use echolocation." Evie explained and she moved aside as Sean finally joined them and he nodded grimly.
"I can do it." Sean said, his eyes narrowed as he looked out over the ocean. "I'll find the ship, you Charles can get the location from my mind…then because its metal Erik can deal with it, yeah?" Sean then turned around trying to focus himself and psyche himself up for what he was about to do.
"Are you sure you can do this Sean?" Charles asked with a worried frown.
"It's not like we can afford to have you making a mistake." Moira joined in, her eyes narrowed. "We need you to be professional about this…not just you showing off for your girlfriend. This is serious, that Russian ship out there is about to launch nuclear weapons at our country and-"
"-look lady, shut up, yeah? I got this." Sean growled. He swung his arms around to loosen up his muscles and then stepped back from the yellow keep clear sign on the floor that was slowly opening up to show the ocean rushing underneath them.
"Are you ready?" Erik asked, coming towards him and Sean jumped back from him with a hand up.
"You are not pushing me out of the plane…I can do this myself." Sean said. He glanced at Darwin, Raven and Alex who were all watching with wide eyes and then he turned to Evie who stood off to the side, holding on to the emergency straps with white knuckled hands.
"Be safe." She called out over the rushing sound of the wind. Her heart pounding wildly in her chest as she stared at Sean, standing at the edge of the opening, preparing himself to leap out. His read hair whipping into his blue eyes. He was a striking figure and she was so very afraid that this might be the last time they ever saw each other.
Sean narrowed his eyes; if he was going to go flying out of a plane and maybe drown in the ocean then he was going to take a minute to have his last words. Ignoring the others in the jet he walked over to Evie and stared down at her.
"Scream if you need me," he said with a cocky grin, he stood as close to her as he could, without touching, though he really did want to touch.
"Isn't that what you do?" Evie replied with an answering grin spreading across her face, eyes sparkling. There was something in the way that he stood, so close to her, leaning towards her and she felt a sudden need to close the distance, her eyes strayed to his pouty lips.
Sean's smile faded and his eyes softened, he reached up and cupped her cheek with his hand, she shivered at the feel of his skin against hers and she swayed closer to him. Sean brushed Evie's hair from her face he leaned forward. "Yeah," he whispered before his lips touched hers gently, lightly, tasting her and he smiled against her lips when he felt a shiver go through her body and she stumbled towards him. He pulled back just a little and watched as her lips followed his, his blue eyes locked onto her dreamy green ones. Placing both hands on her flushed cheeks, Sean licked his lips before stooping down and kissing her with heat and passion, his heart thundered loudly in his chest and he almost forgot himself when he felt her hands fluttering against his chest. Gathering all of his restraint Sean pulled reluctantly away from Evie, his eyes travelling over her face for a moment and then he spun away from her without a backwards glance and took a running leap out of the jet. He was gone before she could even blink properly.
"We'll…that was dramatic." Alex snorted into his hands and Raven shared a smile with Darwin while Erik helped manoeuvre a slightly dazed Evie back into her seat. She was having a little trouble breathing properly and her cheeks were flushed delicately. She would not look anyone in the eye because she was trying so desperately to remember the feel of Sean against her. She had never felt such a strong emotion in her life and her heart fluttered wildly in her chest. For a strange, heart stopping moment she had the thought of just jumping out of the jet after him, to forget all about the nuclear war they were trying to stop and instead continuing where Sean had left off.
"How's he going to get back into the jet?" Raven asked after the clearway doors had closed. Hank turned slightly in his seat at the front of the jet to point to the back of the jet to the doors they had all walked through at the beginning of their flight.
"We'll open those up for him to get back in."
Charles suddenly grinned, his blue eyes alight with triumph as he quickly got out of his seat and walked over towards the clearway doors and waited for Hank to re-open them. Erik crouched down with him as they looked down at the water below.
"Hank, keep her steady." Charles ordered as he then helped Erik lower himself towards the Jet's wheels to balance himself.
"Where is it?" Erik questioned, eyes darting over the waves, trying unsuccessfully to find the submarine.
"There…here, let me show you where." Charles then pressed his fingers to his temple and concentrated to show Erik the sonar picture that Sean had shown him.
"Got it." Erik muttered as he held out his hand, palm facing the ocean and closed his eyes as he blocked out the metal of the jet he was on and the distracting call of the Russian and American naval ships. He felt the slight blip of Sean in the water below and then finally locked on to Shaw's submarine. The metal left tingles all along his spine as he felt its call and he grimaced as the pull of his mutant powers struggled with the heavy object that was pulling away from him.
Gritting his teeth he snarled and let go of the jet with his other hand to try and pull harder with his mutation. He did not notice when Charles swore beside him and distractedly call for Evie and Darwin to hold on to Erik as he abandoned his post. Nor did he notice the two different sets of hands that gripped his uniform to keep him grounded on the jet.
Erik wanted to see this machine, this submarine that Shaw had created and he wanted to crush it in his hands.
"They are almost over the border Charles, do something." Moira yelled as she scrabbled at her harness to find the buckle to release her. Raven rolled her eyes as Charles turned a dour look Moira's way, fingers pressed hard into his temple. He closed his eyes and focussed on the Russian ship, trying to block out Hank's swearing and Alex's whoop of joy as the submarine broke the surface of the ocean.
"That thing is huge." Darwin cried out over the rushing of the wind and he loosened his grip on Erik to get a better look. "How is he even pulling that thing up?"
Evie gritted her teeth as she quickly readjusted her hold on Erik and glared at the dark skinned mutant next to her. "Darwin!" she shrieked, as she slipped closer to the edge of the opening. Darwin yelped and apologised as he quickly reattached himself to Erik.
"What's going on? I can't see jack." Alex grumbled, craning his neck to look at the cockpit and then over to the opening a meter from his feet.
"Charles!" Hank roared as the instruments in the cockpit went haywire and alarms started to beep insistently.
"Hank, move us!" he cried out as he opened his eyes in time to see the missile headed in their direction. "HOLD ON!" he yelled out quickly, re-buckling his harness and trying to help Hank manoeuvre the jet away in time.
There was a scream from the back as the jet swerved violently to the side and Erik cursed as he lost control of the submarine as he was hulled back into the jet by both Evie and Darwin, they scrambled over the tilting jet and pulled their legs back in as the doors closed and locked. Erik snarled and turned towards the cockpit with anger just as the missile hit the wing of their jet.
The explosion knocked Erik, Darwin and Evie off their feet as the jet spun, on fire, flipping through the air. Erik stuck himself to the ship's metal to protect himself and stretched out his hand to do the same for both Evie and Darwin. Raven was screaming, Alex had his eyes tightly shut and Moira had passed out from the g-force of the jet's spins.
"Prepare yourself." The voice of Charles echoed into all of their minds just before the jet hit the sand and rolled.
XxX
Banshee felt all of the breath leave him as he watched the fiery wreckage of the jet and submarine hit the land not so far away from where he bobbed in the ocean, wiping frantically at the water in his eyes. He spun around quickly, trying to work out who had shot the jet out of the sky, why they had done it and with another frantic spin he turned back towards the stretch of beach too far away to swim to, to see if there was any chance his friends…his Evie had survived.
His throat closed painfully and his chest hurt with pain at the thought of never seeing them again. He slapped angrily at the water around him that had for the last ten minutes caused no end of frustration as the water clung to his uniform and he had found no viable way of pulling himself out of the water.
Banshee ran shaking hands through his wet flopping red hair and narrowed his eyes at the American and Russian ships with anger. If they had killed everyone on the jet…no…he was going to be honest with himself, if they had killed Evie then he was going to exact revenge, he was so filled with white hot rage that he knew there was nothing he wouldn't do if they had killed her.
XxX
The first thing that Evie noticed was the pain. She felt like someone had put her inside a dryer and set it to spin for hours, she felt hot and lumpy all over, and she could also feel blood seeping from a cut above her eyebrow that made it impossible to open her eyes. The second thing she noticed was the noise. There was a strong ringing sound in her ears and over that annoying, headache inducing pain she could head shouts and cries of pain. Someone was crying loudly next to her and the jet itself was whining as the metal heated up from the engine fire and missile blast. The third thing she noticed was that she had somehow become stuck against the metal of the jet and was hanging sideways, her neck extended at a bad angle and her arms pinned to her sides.
Coughing and trying to breathe through the pain and the smoke Evie cleared her throat as much as possible "Help." Grimacing at the scratch of a noise that she was sure no one could hear over the other noises in the jet she tried again. "Help!"
There was banging off to the side of her and then a large hairy hand gripped her head to support her neck.
"Evie, where do you hurt? Do you think anything is broken?" Hank asked, his new gravelly voice right by her ear. Squinting her eyes shut tighter against the pain she groaned.
"Everything."
"Erik, can you get her out of this metal?" Hank called, he moved about and she could feel someone else's hands come up and around her back.
"Yeah, I've got it." Erik said as he pushed the metal away from her and held her as her support fell away. Both Hank and Erik then sat her upright against the jet's wall and pressed a compression bandage against the wound in her forehead, cleaning the blood away so that she was finally able to open her eyes. "You got this, Hank? Charles needs me to help him with the others."
"Yes, I think I've got this." Hank answered distractedly as he fumbled around in his bag for more medical supplies.
"How is everyone else?" Evie asked, she winced as he jabbed her in the neck with an injection.
"Charles and I were ok, just a little whiplash, Erik and Darwin were also fine, their mutations respectively protected them. Alex was knocked unconscious and Charles is assessing him right now. Raven has a few burns along her back where the superheated metal hit her and Moira has a broken arm. You weren't strapped in when we were hit and your mutation didn't protect you automatically as the others did."
Evie blinked her eyes a few times as she finally was able to focus Hank and the jet.
"I'll be fine soon Hank." Evie reassured as her head finally cleared of the strange ringing and heaviness that had beset her before. The cut above her eye was only sluggishly seeping blood and other than being bruised all to hell she felt remarkably alright for having survived a crash.
"What happened to the submarine?" Evie asked as Hank finished tying off the bandage around her head and handed her a bottle of water.
"It crashed near us, it too was hit by the missile blast and we have landed on an island of some kind I think."
"So are we going to have to fight Shaw and his men?"
"I think so." Hank replied as he took the bottle of water back from Evie and then helped her slowly to her feet. "How do you feel? Are you steady?"
"Yeah…I'm good, I want to make sure the others are ok." Evie and Hank then moved over to the almost intact cockpit where the least damage had been done to the jet, everyone else was congregated around Charles who had his fingers pressed deeply to his temple.
"What's the plan?" Alex asked, he had a large bruise on the side of his face that was already coloured a deep purple. He was slumped against Darwin's shoulder and gave a tired wave in Evie's direction.
"The American and Russian Naval forces are confused about the jet and submarine and so have ordered a cease fire for now. Sean is stuck in the ocean, he cannot seem to be able to pull himself from the water. I have informed him that we have all survived the crash. I still cannot get a reading from the submarine, although there is movement around it." Charles informed them, his eyes still closed tightly as he concentrated.
"How do you want us to fight?" Darwin asked, his usually jovial face set into hard lines.
"Erik and I will go after Shaw. I will stay here, and as this will be a mutant fight Moira will also remain with me. Raven, you will stand guard and protect us from anything that get's past our defences. Hank, Alex and Darwin, you will need to take out the mutants that Shaw has with him. Evie, you will be our defensive shield. You need to keep everything out of this jet because I need to concentrate on helping Erik defeat Shaw."
"There are at least four of Shaw's known mutants waiting for you; they are standing in front of the submarine as a line of defence for Shaw. They don't seem to be injured from the crash and so be prepared as soon as you step outside of the jet for a confrontation." Charles warned.
The group stood up straight when Charles turned to look at them all and they nodded, Alex saluting sloppily before they turned to the wall closest to them inside the jet and Erik punched through it with his mutation, making a doorway for them to escape the jet as all of their exits had been heavily damaged from the crash. The metal from the jet went flying across the ground, straight towards the submarine that lay beached on the island and they were surprised to see that it took out two of Shaw's mutants in the process. Their enemy was ready and waiting for them.
"Let's go team." Darwin said with a grin, he turned and clapped his hand on Charles shoulder before hurrying to catch up with Erik, Hank and Alex. Evie watched them go and then turned to Raven, her eyes travelled over the tight face of her friend.
"Be safe Raven, you are our last line of defence." She hugged her friend and then stepped out of the jet, blue light encasing her hands and then she set a field around the jet to keep those inside safe.
She had just made it to Darwin's side when Erik ripped open the submarines side and then closed it up behind him. She watched as Angel and the Devil got ready to fight and she breathed in deeply, willing herself to be ready for this, to have her mind focused on this fight, because she remembered how the Devil fought…and he left no survivors.
"Alex, let one rip." Darwin called and Alex threw him an unamused look before he turned around and came face to face with the red devil. The mutant smiled cruelly and grabbed Havoc around the waist, pinning his arms against his sides. Hank roared and lunged, just managing to snare his great paws on the shoulder of the Devil before they all disappeared. Darwin turned quickly and pulled Evie with him as an acidic spit ball came hurling towards them before Angel flew up and away out over to the ocean where three small dots were struggling and fighting mid air.
Evie quickly tapped Darwin's shoulder to gain his attention and pointed at the two mutants who had been hit by the wall of the jet that Erik had thrown.
"We've got our own worries." She said with a frown marring her face. She flung a force field up in time as the metal wall was hurled straight at them. It bounced back from the blue field and then both Tank and Riptide stood before them, both with almost identical looks of menace on their faces.
"What's our strategy?" Darwin asked. He was eyeing the force field as it came under attack from the brute strength of Tank and the water tunnels of Riptide.
"I can use my force field as a barrier for hand to hand combat I suppose, and with being invisible I should be able to hold out against Tank until you finish off Riptide. Your mutation should help you fight against him, right?" she questioned, widening her stance to give herself more balance in holding up her force field.
"Sounds like a plan…ready, on three…one, two, three-" They broke away simultaneously, Evie contracting her force field to hover an inch from her skin and going invisible almost immediately. Darwin spun and rolled onto the sand and then rose up, ready to fight his appointed enemy. He looked on in astonishment as his feet curved out and dug into the ground like large hooks and his chest and arms hardened to stone to make himself immovable against the onslaught by Riptide.
Evie found herself almost having fun as she dodged the decidedly slow but powerful swings of Tank. His almost black eyes glittered with rage and with some kind of strange delight at the same time.
"Ready or not, here I come." He rasped and with a lightning quick move lashed out and hit Evie's force field strongly. He grinned in triumph as she stumbled and moved away from him for a moment to catch her breath, he hit hard. "Maybe you don't want to play hide and seek…maybe you want to play murder in the dark?" He asked with a malevolent tone. Evie ignored his taunts and jumped forwards with a hard kick to his solar plexus and then dodged his jab to her face, she however missed the hook that caught her in the temple and if it hadn't been for her force field armour like protection she was sure she would be out cold right then.
Being invisible had its advantages which she used as much as she could. Moving with quick lightning moves Evie punched, kicked, pushed and dodged around the giant hulking form before her. Her opponents movements were getting quicker and she realised that Tank was trying to follow her moves and get in as many hits on his own as he could. The problem that Evie was finding however was that upholding her mutation for this long and exerting herself in a fight was making her tired a lot quicker than her opponent.
"Found you, you're it." Tank sneered and Evie blinked up into the dark shark eyes of the other mutant in surprise as her arm was jerked hard. He had a hold of her now and she was so surprised that she let go of her invisibility and flickered back into visibility.
"You are so awfully hard to catch…but I wonder if I can crush you just as easily as a bug?" he asked conversationally and Evie jerked her arm back sharply, hoping to pull away from the mutant and his scary, unblinking, cruel eyes.
"Why are you doing this?" Evie asked, her voice coming out fluttery and out of breath, her heart pounding hard and fast in her chest with fear.
The dark skinned mutant laughed harshly and increased pressure on her wrist for a moment, looking thoughtful.
"Because I am stronger then you." He said and then gripped her arm with his other hand and with an almighty roar he snapped her arm in two.
XxX
Sean had finally figured out how to aim his supersonic soundwaves at the water at the right angle to lift himself out of the water and had been headed for the American Naval ship where he could see Alex trying to fight against Angel while dodging the naval officers at the same time. He was startled midflight and almost plunged back into the ocean when a scream ripped through the air with such agony.
Spinning in the air he glanced back towards the beach and shaded his eyes against the glare from the sun to see four dots on the beach fighting with each other, one however looked to be held by another much larger than it and he knew without a doubt that Evie was in trouble. Feeling that same white hot rage fill him as it had before he spun back around and flew with everything he had towards the American Naval ship and Alex.
"You better be ready to jump Havoc, or I'll leave you behind." Banshee yelled and he dipped forward, dodging the acidic spit ball and holding his hand out, clasping hands with Alex who had run and jumped off of the side of the ship. The strain of having another body pulled against Sean's shoulder and his muscles strained with the added weight. He also flew lopsided as he had never tried to fly with extra weight before.
"When we get back you are going on a diet." Sean said through gritted teeth, his eyes narrowed on the stretch of beach coming closer to them. Alex looked up at his friend and grinned.
"Maybe you should spend more time in the weights room." Alex rejoined. Sean grunted and went into a steep dive to avoid Angel who was fast on their heels.
"When we get to the beach be ready to fight right away."
"Evie?" Alex asked with a raised eyebrow and he shifted his grip against Sean's hand. Banshee glared angrily at the mutant following them and grunted in the affirmative.
"Would you stop that, you overgrown dragonfly?" Alex cried out as they narrowly avoided another acid ball. "It's disgusting for a girl to spit."
Angel laughed, her barely there clothes leaving nothing to the imagination as she dived for them and Alex was given a clear view of her cleavage. He blushed heavily and while distracted forgot to tug at Sean's hand to warn him and he watched in a strange soft of fascination as the acid ball spun through the air and with a sizzling hiss ate through the material that joined to make a wing on Sean's uniform. However the acid did not only eat through the material but with a cry of alarm it started to burn the flesh at Sean's side. Banshee grunted in pain and changed hands for Alex to hold then spun up and around to face the traitor with an angry snarl. He opened his mouth wide and with a scream blasted the flying mutant away.
"Good work, Banshee." Alex called and he almost swallowed his tongue when Sean turned his hard blue eyes on his friend.
"If she delayed me in getting to Evie in time...she won't ever fly again." He said coldly and turned them both back towards the beach. He ignored the pain in his side that burned fiercely for it paled in comparison to the tight feeling in his chest where his heart seemed to be trying to leap out of it.
XxX
Darwin was having a little trouble trying to get as close to Riptide as possible. His hook feet where keeping him from being swept away and he was able to avoid drowning by the waterspouts because of his gills, however it did not matter how hard he tried it felt like he was only walking on the spot. He needed a different tactic and he needed it quickly. He had heard Evie's scream, he was pretty sure there wasn't anyone in the entire world who hadn't heard her scream. But he could not afford to be distracted because he was pretty sure that if he looked away for even a moment he would be dead.
"Give up, little shifter, it's only a matter of time before I run you down." Riptide snapped, his teeth flashing dangerously as he combined two waterspouts and slammed them against Darwin relentlessly.
"I don't know how to give up." Darwin spat, his dark eyes frantically searching the ground for anything that could help him defeat his foe. Looking down at his hooked feet he wondered if he could cause himself to change his body at will. He concentrated on what he needed and wanted, letting it form in his mind and holding his hands out, palms facing his enemy he watched with a start of surprise and triumph as twin harpoons launched from his hands with incredible speed and smashed through the waterspouts surrounding Riptide and imbedded themselves in his legs. With a jerk Darwin pulled the mutants legs out from under him and strode over with purpose. He pulled the harpoons back and felt the strange slithering sucking motion of them being rejoined with his body and turned his fists to stone. He stared down at the mutant that lay clutching his bleeding legs and steeling his heart from the violence he had committed and was about to do he crashed his fist into Riptide's temple, causing the mutant to fall into unconsciousness. Breathing a sigh of relief he almost slumped down in exhaustion next to his unconscious enemy before his sluggish mind reminded him that his team mate needed him.
He turned around and searched the beach for Evie and Tank and was shocked to see her bleeding heavily, her left arm obviously broken with the bone piercing the skin, her face grey with shock and pain and in the stranglehold of the large dark skinned man that used to be their friend.
"Evie!" he shouted and started sprinting towards them, ignoring his own injuries and pains as the realisation that with one move the big brute could snap her neck.
Tank looked up at the other mutant running towards them. He tilted his head to the side to watch the frantic running and then looked down at the barely conscious women in his hands. He could really have just used one hand to strangle her, but the feel of both hands around her neck, feeling her pulse fluttering weakly against his fingers was an intoxicating sensation. Her green eyes were bulging and she scratched at his hands weakly with her uninjured arm as he slowly choked the life from her. Tank grinned viciously down at the too far away mutant.
"He won't get here in time to save you…and do you know why?"Tank asked as he shook Evie to get her to focus on his words. She looked up at him, tears silently sliding down her cheeks as she struggled to breathe. "No? Oh…I'll tell you anyway. It's because-"
"-he's not batman!" Tank lifted his head up in confusion at being interrupted only to be knocked down by Alex who had been thrown at him by Sean, the latter skidding to a halt on the sand beside a gasping Evie.
Alex stood up and blasted the larger mutant away from him, his glowing, energy hoops slicing deeply into his thick skin and the force of the blast knocked him unconscious. Alex then looked up at Angel who had cried out in anger and he sent his energy hoops her way and grinned in grim satisfaction as she screeched in agony when the hoops cut through her wings, plummeting her to the ground where she lay at an awkward angle and did not get back up.
"Alex, Alex I need you." Sean called, he and Darwin were both crouched over Evie, her breathing was shallow and quick and Alex ran back towards them, ignoring the pain in his shoulder where his arms had almost been pulled from their sockets from flying from them and from the force of being thrown into a man almost like a brick wall.
"What can I do?" he asked as he finally was able to look down at his severely hurt team mate. He was almost sick at the sight of her arm and the already discoloured finger marks around her throat.
"Get Hank's medical bag from the jet. Get Raven as well if you can, she knows more about this sort of stuff then us." Darwin ordered, he was positioning himself at her feet and lifting them up above her heart to hopefully help with the shock. Sean was crouched over her, his hands tracing her face and talking to her calmly and softly, trying to reassure her.
Alex stood up quickly and with a final glance at his team mates, all three of who were injured. Darwin had numerous bruises and cuts that bled shallowly; he was also rubbing at his hands in a strange manner. Sean had one hand pressed to his side where Angel's acid spit had gotten him, but other than that he was ignoring the other scraps and bruises that covered his body. Evie, by far, seemed to have come out of this fight the worse for wear.
Alex sprinted towards the jet, he feet sinking exasperatedly in the sand and he almost crashed into Hank who appeared out of nowhere with the Devil attached to him. He spun out of the way of their jabs and fists with wide eyes. Alex would admit to himself that there had been a time before when he thought Hank's mutation had to be the most wussiest and least effective mutation that any of them had. Now however, with his beastly overnight mutation the big guy was pretty strong and fierce…even if the fur and blueness was a bit odd.
"Azazel, stop!" The three mutants turned in surprise as Shaw stepped out from behind the jet, his expression mild. The Red Devil hesitated and stepped away from the Beast and then fell to the ground out cold when the Beast took advantage of his distraction and knocked him unconscious.
'Shaw' then shimmered and turned back into Raven who grinned at them happily, coming over in a quick bound to hug first Hank and then Alex.
"Did we get them all?" she asked excitedly and Alex shifted to the side anxiously as he turned to look into her eager golden eyes.
"We need medical attention down at the beach. Hank, grab your bag and come with me." Alex said, the frown on his face startling both mutants into action right away.
"Are you hurt as well?" Raven asked distractedly as she helped Hank stuff more items into his medical bag that they pulled from the jet as quickly as possible.
"I'm fine for now. Come on, before Sean starts killing people." Alex ran a shaking hand through his blonde hair in agitation, his heart still beating frantically like he was still fighting.
The three relatively well and whole mutants ran back across the sand. Raven slipped once as her feet sank in the loose sand and Hank grabbed her arm quickly and pulled her along behind him.
Hank quickly let go of Raven once they had arrived at the scene. He knelt down quickly at Evie's side and looked over her injuries before switching sides to be closer to her broken arm.
"We have to set the bone before we can do anything else. Raven, look for something to put in her mouth for her to bite on. Sean, I'll need you to hold down her shoulders so that she doesn't jerk her arm from me. Darwin, stay where you are but hold her legs down. Alex, I need you next to me." All of the mutants quickly got into position, listening to the orders that Hank gave them specifically and getting ready for the grisly issue of pushing the bone back into position inside of Evie's bloody arm.
"Raven, in my bag there should be a syringe with a label on it saying adrenalin, I need you ready with that on her other side. Now on my count…three, two, one." Evie screamed in absolute agony when Hank gripped the bone and her wound. She bucked wildly and Sean, Darwin and Alex struggled to hold her still as Hank pushed the bone back into the wound. With a sickening squelch, snap and click the bone slid back into place, blood rushing out from the newly disturbed wound.
Hank then grabbed Alex's hand, his covered with blood and placed a clean bandage in his team mates hand and told him to put pressure on the wound. He then took the adrenalin syringe from Raven who looked about ready to faint, her usually dark blue skin had turned a startling shade of sky blue. Hank then injected their now thankfully unconscious team mate with adrenalin to help her fluttering heart not to give out.
Pulling three bottles of water out of his medical bag Hank washed his fur covered, blood soaked hands and then the wound that Alex was still applying pressure to before wrapping the wound tightly and strapping it high on her chest to keep it from moving and hopefully slow the blood loss until they could get her to a hospital.
"She'll be alright now?" Sean asked hoarsely, his eyes never leaving Evie's pale face. Hank sat back and shook his head.
"She's stable for now but we need to get her to a hospital as soon as we can. How about the rest of you, where are you injured?"
The other mutants finally allowed themselves to take stock of their injuries now that the immediate danger was out of the way. Hank and Raven got to work on their injured team mates, assessing them and cleaning their wounds. Sean was the hardest to deal with as he seemed almost afraid that if he turned his back on Evie she would stop breathing.
"What do we do about the team of evil mutants over there?" Alex asked with raised eyebrows as he pointed in the general direction of the unconscious mutants.
"We should restrain them so that they can't attack us again." Darwin suggested and he stood up ready to do just that when Charles's angry voice reached across the beach to them.
"You left your post, Raven. That was irresponsible of you, you left Moira and I alone, with our backs exposed to danger without even a word to us. What do you have to say for yourself?" Charles asked as he stalked across the sand, Moira at his heels.
Raven's golden eyes flashed angrily and she gestured behind her to her injured teams mates.
"They needed me and the danger had been subdued." She stated.
"We needed you as well, I trusted you to be where you said you were going to be, I-"
"-I didn't say I was going to be there, you chose what we would be doing in this fight, you stopped me from going out there and fighting with my team because you wanted your precious human to be safe." Raven shouted back. She stepped right up into Charles' space and glared back at him. "I did my job, and then I helped out my team when they asked for my help. You haven't even asked if they are alright yet, Charles. Do you even care what happens to us at all?"
Charles took a step back and blinked slowly at his sister. They had fought before, many times but this seemed to be something else entirely.
"I know they are fine." Charles said distractedly and then turned back to his blue skinned sister with narrowed eyes. "They did what they were told to do. You, however, didn't. How can I trust you to watch our backs when you run off at the first sign of action? It's selfish and not how a team should work."
"Lay off, Professor X." Alex called out tiredly. He lay next to the still unconscious Evie, an arm over his eyes to shield out the sun. "We've had a rough day and we did need her."
Raven huffed in annoyance and then went back to the group of tired mutants and avoided Charles's eyes.
"What happened with Erik and Shaw?" Darwin inquired, his gaze focussed on the submarine behind them. Charles followed his gaze and ran a hand tiredly over his face.
"I can't really get a read on what is happening inside the submarine, the metal still causes static with my mutation and I am afraid that Eri-" he trailed off when the submarine wall they had been looking at peeled back and Shaw floated out of the ship with Erik right behind him, the sunlight glinting off of Shaw's helmet that he now wore on his head.
"He killed him." Hank whispered as Erik and the body of Shaw came to a halt, the latter falling to the ground, discarded.
"I have defeated our enemy just as you have defeated his forces. We are triumphant." Erik crowed and came striding towards the huddled group of his team to come to stand before his friend Charles.
"You didn't have to kill him Erik, it doesn't solve anything and he needed to pay for his crimes." Charles challenged, his blue eyes sad as he looked up at his friend.
"You do things your way and I will do it mine. He paid for his crimes with his life; I believe that is good enough. Besides, I am sure he would have found a way to escape if we had just arrested him."
"And what do you intend to do with his followers, Erik? You can't expect us to allow you to kill them all?"
"I don't think that is necessary, they were following orders and so should be held accountable for their crimes fairly." Erik said with a dismissive wave of his hand.
"Why are you wearing Shaw's helmet, Erik?" Charles's voice was filled with concern.
"My mind is my own Charles, I don't want anyone else in there, I-"
"-what is that?" Raven asked, pointed out over the ocean as a wave of grey dots headed towards them. "It looks like birds?" her question went unanswered as all of the mutants able to move stood up to come and see what Raven was pointing at.
"I don't think those are birds." Darwin hesitated before turning to Erik and Charles. "Are those missiles?"
Erik snarled and pointed at the sky, his expression filled with righteous anger. "Do you see Charles, the humans don't even recognise that we saved them, they are going to kill us all. We have to send them a message, we-"
"What are you talking about? Messages? Have you lost your mind? Moira, get in contact with the CIA, find out what is happening."
Moira ran back towards the jet where the radio system was and she hoped she would be able to get a hold of her contacts and find out what the hell was going on.
"The CIA are not going to be able to stop these missiles killing us all, Charles. They will not stop until we are all dead. Those are Russian and American missiles, they are working together to kill us." Erik then turned away from his friend to address the other mutants standing and staring up at the approaching weapons. He took in his team mates and the now rousing mutants who had followed Shaw and spoke with a loud voice for all of them to hear.
"The humans are trying to kill us, they want to eradicate us because they fear us, we just saved them from nuclear war and now this!" He gestured to the cloud of missiles that were getting closer to them with a grimace. "We must band together and show these humans that they cannot kill us that easily, that we have a right to be here and that we…mutants, will not go down without a fight!"
"What do you intend to do?" Raven asked, her golden eyes locked onto Erik's.
"This." He held up his arms and they all watched, stupefied as every single missile stopped in its tracks.
"Erik, don't do this, we can talk with the humans. This is the first time they have seen us in action, they don't understand what they are doing, they-"
"Don't they, Charles?" Erik asked calmly as he flicked his wrist and every missile turned around, hovering in mid air. He pulled the sleeve of his uniform up and showed Charles the branded number in his arm. "I'm sure this isn't their first contact with mutants, Charles, nor will it be the last…but I will not be exterminated by something less then I am."
Charles watched with wide, fear filled eyes as Erik smirked and then released his hold on the missiles. Charles snarled and with two long strides knelt beside the still unconscious Evie and slapped her hard across the face. He then froze Sean's violent reaction by invading his mind and taking over his body and then he turned to Evie and shook her awake. Her green eyes snapped open and then closed immediately as pain flared in her body.
"Evie, I need you to get up and save people's lives." Charles ordered angrily, he froze anyone who tried to stop him and then roughly pulled the injured girl to her feet and turned her to face the ocean, the two enemy naval ships and the horde of missiles headed for them. "Put up a shield and save those people."
Evie sagged against Charles and she shook her head. "I can't." She whined in pain when he gripped her hard on her injured arm and she almost fainted from it. Charles shook her angrily and pointed.
"If you don't do this, all of those people will die and it will be your fault because you were too weak to protect them. DO IT!"
Evie swallowed the bile that rose in her throat as pain spiked through her body and lifting her one good arm that felt like red hot pokers were driving through them she pushed with all of her might and held a force field up. The first missiles hit the shield and she buckled, the only reason she was still standing was because Charles still held her up. Erik cried out in rage and tackled Charles to the ground. Evie stumbled from the lack of support and fell down, her concentration broken and her shield fell. Her vision darkened at the corners from the pain.
"Get back up and put that shield up" Charles screamed at her from where she lay on the ground, struggling to breathe. She struggled to get back up on her feet using her one good arm for balance, she was having difficulty even knowing which way was right way up. Evie started as she felt a supporting hand behind her and turned unseeing eyes back towards the ocean.
"You can do it Evie, I'm here with you." Raven said softly and she shifted slightly to allow Sean to come next to her, his arms wrapping warmly around a struggling Evie and lifting her up.
"Just one more shield." He whispered in her ear, kissing her temple gently and brushing her tangled hair from her face.
"I can't…it hurts." She cried hoarsely, her damaged throat paining her and she swallowed convulsively.
"DO IT!" Charles shouted.
"You can, Evie." Sean reassured and he helped to lift up her shaking uninjured arm, and she cried out in agony as the shield once again formed in front of both naval ships. The missiles crashed into them, the explosions booming and echoing back towards them and the blue force field shattered. Sean hugged Evie tightly as she slumped back against him exhausted, the both of them slowly sinking down to sit in the sand. Blood dribbled down her nose from the exertion and Sean wiped it away tiredly. Raven moved away to give them both some privacy. Sean's heart pounded loudly in his ears and the rage he had felt at Charles was pushed to the side as he realised they had survived, that they were safe and that Evie was alive. He kissed Evie's temple again and curled his body around her to protect her from being disturbed by the shouting going on behind them. He ran his hand through her hair again and brushed it from her eyes that were now closed.
He knew he loved this girl, even though it had only been a short time in which they had met. She had befriended him, laughed with him and she had a way about her that drew him to her. Wherever she was…he wanted to be, too.
"It's over Erik, leave it and let's get out of here. We can talk about this somewhere else where there isn't the American and Russian Navy out there." Charles cried as both Erik and Charles continued to struggle in the sand, trying to get the upper hand.
Erik finally pushed Charles from him and stood up, brushing the sand from his uniform and he turned angrily on his friend. He however did not get the chance to say anything as they were interrupted by Moira rejoining their group at a run, her gun out and pointed straight at Erik.
"Step down Erik, the fight's over. The CIA will come and collect us for a debriefing." Moira ordered. The mutant and master of magnetism laughed and shook his head.
"And if I don't stop? Will you shoot me?" he asked condescendingly.
"If I have to. You just attacked Russian and US navy, you have a lot to answer for." Moira said with narrowed eyes. Raven snarled and launched herself at the human, pushing her to the ground and flinging the gun as far away from them all a possible.
"This is absolutely stupid, we just saved everyone's life and you start threatening us?" Raven demanded. "Erik, stop it, and Charles shut up for once. Evie is hurt and so are the rest of the team. We need to go back to the mansion, get some rest and medical treatment and then talk about this like adults. Everything will have changed now. Let's get out of here as soon as we can. You however," and here Raven was pointing at Moira, "can remain and wait for the CIA, we will contact you when we are rested, that is…if we want to continue this." She gestured vaguely between the human woman and the rest of the mutant team.
"How do you suggest we get off this island?" Charles asked with a raised eyebrow and a frown marring his face.
Raven turned to Erik and he sighed before turning to the downed jet and in no time the entire thing had rearranged itself back into the semblance of a jet and Raven let a satisfied smile grace her face. "Let's go." She commanded, making her way back to where Sean and Darwin were struggling to lift an unconscious Evie up off the ground and the team slowly trudged tiredly towards the jet, ready for home.
"What about the other mutants?" Charles questioned.
Raven shrugged and glanced disinterestedly at the roused and injured enemy mutants. "Leave them; they CIA can deal with them if they are still here when they arrive."
Erik followed the blue mutant into the jet and with an irritated look at Charles he went inside to help Hank get their injured team mates settled in.
"Will you really leave, Charles?" Moira asked, her expression annoyed and stubborn. Charles patted her on the arm and then turned to look around at the now deserted beach, their enemy had dispersed and he nodded slowly.
"My team and I have a lot to discuss. I'll see you when we are ready to talk to the CIA again."
And then he hurried in to the patched up jet and buckled in just as it lifted up, off of the ground and they flew away. They were headed home, but as Charles looked over his injured, tired and angry team he wondered how long it would remain so for many of them.
"She alright, Banshee?" The red head turned to look at Darwin who had posed the question. Darwin's dark eyes were focused on the unconscious Evie and Sean shrugged a shoulder and slumped into his seat.
"She better be. You alright there, Havoc?" The blonde snorted awake and turned to his friends with unfocused and tired, red rimmed eyes.
"Wha?"
Raven laughed quietly. "I'm glad we all survived that one." She said quietly, her golden eyes flashing with emotion as she looked over at her friends, taking note of their injuries. Her gaze swept past her brother and Erik's stiff and closed off forms as they stood at the broken windows in the cockpit while Erik flew the jet with his mutation. She turned back to her friends and grinned, flashing her white teeth.
"So…did we ever give ourselves a team name?" she asked and the mood lifted as Alex roused from his almost sleep to rub at his eyes to offer-
"Team Batman?"
"What? Noooo!" The rest of their team cried out, all of them laughing, or at least trying to laugh and not aggravate their injuries any further.
"What about Team X-men…since it's the x-gene that makes us different and gives us our mutation?" Hank suggested.
"No! That's not even original, come on…X-Men? You might as well call us X-Gene Team…actually that rhymes…" Alex contemplated for a moment before he was interrupted by Darwin who punched his shoulder lightly.
"I am not having a rhyming name for the team, that's even worse…how about-" and for the rest of the flight back to the Xavier mansion the team threw around different team names to keep their minds off of their hurts. Sean however was quiet as he sat beside Evie, his fingers tracing over her bruises and cuts. Once they were all healed he and Evie were going to have a talk and he hoped that it was going to be a good talk…one that involved a bit of kissing.
"I know, The Avengers!"
"Alex!" The rest of the team groaned as the blonde haired boy continued to rattle off potential names for their team.
XxX
TBC
Next chapter will be the final chapter, apologies for the late update and thanks for the encouraging reviews