We're entering the home stretch! There's just one more chapter after this one. Again, I cannot thank you all enough for the comments/favorites/follows, I appreciate them so much! You have my sincere thanks :)
###
Charles felt a strange sense of déjà vu as he watched Erik and the others preparing for the battle. His mind kept flashing back to that all too brief time in Westchester when he and Erik had helped the others learn to harness and strengthen their abilities. It seemed a lifetime ago that he was entrusting Alex not to blow him to pieces with plasma blasts and being outrun by Hank on the manor grounds. He felt a pang at the remembered nights with Erik, their lovemaking increasing in fervor and feeling until it had reached a crescendo of emotion and desire and want. The pang was gentler now, knowing that he and Erik were dedicated to trying again. But Charles suspected he would always feel a sense of loss at the easy way he and Erik had felt so infinite and untouchable, before they'd ever consciously realized they had the power to hurt each other so deeply.
It also put into sharp relief the ways in which Charles wasn't going to be of much use to anyone. He felt frustrated - more frustrated than perhaps he'd felt since he'd lost his legs - to have such a powerful mind without the physical means to match it. He watched as Erik and Magneto worked on a levitation technique using the metals in Erik's clothing. Logan was sparring with Thor and Natasha, while Tony and Bruce fixated on trying to find a way to harness Scott's plasma blasts for their own use under the amused, watchful eye of Hank. Not for the first time since she'd departed, Charles missed Raven. Like him, she had never been much of a physical fighter, relying instead on her cleverness and her intellect to outsmart her enemy before she ever had to overpower them. The Professor had encouraged him to work on centering himself and expanding his mind, and Charles had done so in the quiet moments he had, usually at night in Erik's arms, the sound of Erik's low, even breathing something of a meditative lull. However, Charles couldn't find it in himself to seek solace in the Professor, who would undoubtedly be the only person who could understand exactly what he was feeling. Every time Charles looked at the Professor, he could see it in the older man's eyes: I'm sorry, my friend, but this is a battle you will not much be part of.
Deep down, Charles could admit that his bitter disappointment was in no small part because of the way he felt he'd failed so spectacularly that day in Cuba. Wouldn't things have turned out so very differently if he'd only made the right choices? Said the right things? If he could do more against Galactus, would it… make up for his shortcomings six months ago? Or did this just mean that he'd always be unable to provide any real assistance to those he loved when it really mattered?
Charles knew his thoughts were making him maudlin, so he did his best to keep them locked away from the others, especially Erik, who paid him no small amount of attention, even while he was otherwise engaged. He would smile at Charles from mid-air as if he wanted nothing more than for Charles to share in the victory of his moment, and Charles was unmanned. He thought back to that day at the manor, gray skies and satellites and Charles believing with everything he was in all that Erik could one day be. He still believed in those things. All he had to do was look at Erik to know that all of those things were true.
"Metal man of slightly less ire!" Thor's voice boomed as he moved toward Erik, pulling Charles from his thoughts. "Let us test the strength of your power!" He twirled the hammer in his hand as if it were light and weightless; a simple toy used for amusement and parlor tricks, not the formidable weapon Charles knew it to be.
Erik laughed openly. "You honestly believe that a hammer is any match for me?"
Tony's head popped up from where he'd been tinkering with a bit of gadgetry at his workbench. "Oh, this is going to be so good."
"Come on then, thunder God," Erik said, arms spread wide. "Let's see what you've got."
Thor chuckled, low and amused, and with an audible crack in the air, launched Mjolnir at Erik. It all happened in the blink of an eye, but to Charles everything seemed to move in slow motion. Erik reached out his hand to stop the hammer with his powers, but nothing was happening. Mjolnir was headed straight for Erik without slowing, and it was only when the hammer was a hair's breadth away from Erik's face did it halt entirely before clattering to the ground, as if it had hit an invisible barrier.
Everyone glanced over to see Magneto, hand extended, slowly lowering it back down to his side as he dissipated the magnetic force field he'd surrounded Erik with. Thor looked momentarily stunned, but then he threw back his head and laughed heartily, calling Mjolnir back to his outstretched hand.
"Splendid, God of Metal! Not many can claim victory over the power of Mjolnir."
"I am no God, I assure you," Magneto told him, but Charles could hear the note of amused pride in his voice.
"Don't give him any ideas, Thor," Storm teased. "His head's big enough as it is. It's a wonder they all fit into the same bed: him, the Professor, and Magneto's ego."
Erik scowled and Charles felt his face heating up in a slight flush, but the Professor and Magneto looked completely nonchalant.
"Magneto, I'm… impressed." Bruce said, balancing on the balls of his feet. "The only thing that's ever stood up to the hammer before is Cap's shield."
"The Earth itself is mired in magnetism," Magneto said with a barely perceptible shrug. "I have spent many years upon her surface, learning her secrets."
"You ok there, Shark Week?" Tony asked, peering at Erik, who was looking rather stunned.
"I… yes," Erik said, blinking. Charles couldn't help but smile fondly. It wasn't every day that someone bested Erik Lehnsherr.
###
At dinner the night before the battle, a mutant showed up at Stark Tower. She was young, tall and svelte with hair the color of a smoldering fire, and Erik could feel the ripples of her power as sure as he could sense the magnetic pull of the Earth.
She introduced herself as Jean Grey.
"Mystique sent me," she explained, moving to give Magneto a one-armed squeeze before kneeling down to embrace the Professor. Erik didn't miss the fondness that Magneto and the Professor regarded her with.
"My dear," the Professor said warmly. "What a pleasant surprise."
Jean pulled back far enough to quirk an eyebrow at him. "Not so much a surprise to someone who knew I was coming?"
"You're always chiding me over my supposedly faulty memory. Perhaps I'd forgotten you'd be here," the Professor replied mirthfully.
She laughed warmly and hugged him again. Erik watched Magneto watching them, nothing but unguarded warmth and affection in his eyes. Whoever this Jean Grey was, she was obviously someone very important to his and Charles' older selves.
No one seemed particularly surprised to have another mutant added to the mix, and Scott and Logan made room for Jean between them at the table, each giving her a kiss on the cheek. Logan's accompanying ass grab earned him a stab in the hand by one of his dinner forks, courtesy of Magneto, and a sharp elbow to the ribs from Jean.
"Behave, Logan," she admonished.
"Jean," Storm interrupted before Logan could somehow retaliate. "You said Mystique sent you? She made it back to the manor, then?"
Jean nodded, smiling in thanks at Clint, who passed her a container of pad thai and an open bottle of wine.
"Raven said she wouldn't leave us wanting for help," Charles murmured, studying Jean thoughtfully. When Charles started suddenly, Erik felt his own spike of alarm, quickly abated by Charles' immediate surprised, breathy laugh.
"You're a telepath," Charles said to Jean, who Erik realized must've spoken into Charles' mind and startled him.
"Among other things," Scott said, and Erik recognized the pride in his voice - it was the same sort pride he felt for Charles, always.
"I've only ever met one other," Charles told her. "She's decidedly more…"
"Frosty?" Logan offered with a smirk. Erik groaned.
Jean laughed, index finger idly tracing the rim of her wine glass. "Any skill I've managed to master as a telepath, I owe it to you," she told Charles. There was no mistaking the regard in her voice. The Professor favored her with a smile that struck Erik as something proud and paternal.
"Your telekinetic abilities will come in handy," Tony told her with a wave of his fork. "Cyborgs are so much easier to blow up when they can't move."
"I'm pretty damn awesome, Stark, but even I can't control an entire army," Jean said with a wry smile.
"No, but even a few less of those little bastards would count as a victory in my book," Tony replied, returning her grin with one of his own.
"We can use all the help we can get. Welcome aboard, ma'am," Steve said, giving her a formal nod.
Jean opened her mouth to reply, but Natasha shook her head. "Don't. He'll never stop with the grand ol' chivalry bit. Believe me, I've tried."
"Better a gentleman than this guy," Jean said, quirking her thumb at Logan. Logan smirked and tapped out the ashes from his cigar into her food.
It was surreal to Erik, watching the easy and effortless way in which all of these people interacted with each other, Magneto included. Erik had never considered himself much of a people person - it wouldn't be too far off the mark to say that Charles was the first real friend he'd ever had. And it seemed that by knowing Charles, by loving Charles, far and away the easiest thing Erik had ever done, he had amassed himself an entire group of friends; a family. The thought was a humbling one, and it warmed Erik's insides.
As if hearing his thoughts like they were spoken words, Charles responded with a gentle brush against Erik's consciousness: I love you, darling. Always.
###
Sleep was an elusive creature that night, coming in fits and starts for Charles, and he knew even before he was fully out of his latest doze that Erik's eyes were on him.
"Hello," he murmured, meeting Erik halfway for a chaste, sleepy kiss. "What time is it?"
"It's not quite dawn," Erik replied, pulling the covers more snugly over them.
"How long have you been awake?"
"Not long," Erik told him. "And I can't complain much about the view."
Charles chuckled softly, tucking his head underneath Erik's chin. "This is probably our last time in this bed."
Erik's hold on him tightened. "Charles, nothing is going to – "
"No, no, I know," Charles interrupted. "Don't you remember what the Professor and Magneto said, about how they weren't here for long after the battle was over? It means we're going home."
"But… how?" Erik asked.
"I've been thinking about that. I'm not sure that even the Professor and Magneto know exactly how it's going to happen. I have a theory," Charles told him.
Erik chuckled in amusement. "Of course you do."
Charles poked him before continuing. "I know nothing about the mutant that I touched, other than the fact that her power sent us here. Perhaps there's a time limit on her abilities, or even more remarkable, that her ability can send others to crucial moments in time to change, fix, or alter something significant in their lives. And once the change has been made, we simply… return to our present."
"Well, I'm certainly not going to miss it here," Erik said with what Charles felt was a bit of put upon self-importance.
"Liar," Charles teased.
"All right, I confess, I'll miss this bed. It's much more comfortable than your bed at the manor. We'll have to get it replaced once we get back, now that I've been spoiled by a superior mattress."
Charles swallowed the sudden lump in his throat, and Erik looked down at him with a frown. "What is it, Charles? If you're attached to your bed, we'll keep it, I was mostly just tea – "
Erik didn't get a chance to finish his sentence, swallowed as it was by Charles' lips on his own.
###
Charles studied the sleek, black helicopter, brow furrowed as he went over the possible uses they could have for it. Erik's tense silence beside him was disconcerting.
Breakfast had been a quiet affair, and only Tony and Logan had tucked into their food with vigor. By mid-morning, a strange, dark shape, barely perceptible to the naked eye began to make its way across the sun. Early reports on the radio and television were calling it an unexpected eclipse. Natasha made a call to Nick Fury about a city-wide evacuation, and Steve called for everyone to suit up.
"Why wasn't the city evacuated before now?" Charles asked as Tony led himself, the Professor, and Erik down to a large Humvee waiting in the street outside the main entrance to Stark Tower. The Professor and Magneto had shared a good-bye kiss that had been both innocent and filled with such intimacy and love that Charles had almost felt that he was intruding on a private moment. It didn't occur to Charles to wonder why Magneto wasn't accompanying them – everyone had a job to do, and Charles figured Magneto had his own preparations to make.
"If we'd called for an evacuation days ago, it would have caused city-wide panic, general disruption of order, chaos, et cetera. Personally, I enjoy a good riot, but Fury tends to overrule me on that count," Tony explained, giving the driver an address Charles wasn't familiar with.
"But… wont there be casualties?" Charles asked carefully.
"I hope not. I hope that there will be enough time to clear the area we've planned on trying to contain the battle to. Cap is pretty amazing at ordering people around in all the right ways to save civilians. But… sometimes it's inevitable." Tony shrugged. The gesture wasn't careless or cruel, just resigned, as if Tony understood in a firsthand way the fact that sometimes, loss of life was inevitable, that innocent people caught in the crossfire paid the price. To Charles, it was a very Erik way of thinking, and he spared a moment of sympathy for Tony, to have lived enough experiences to believe that you could never save everyone. Charles looked at Erik and didn't know if he would ever believe that every single man couldn't be saved, somehow.
After a few moments of not quite comfortable silence, Charles peered out the windows, watching as the buildings of the city gave way to a more industrial view of docks and abandoned warehouses. Before too much longer, the vehicle had come to a stop at a helipad banking the East River, and there the helicopter had been waiting for them. Tony looked back at them from the passenger seat and nodded to Erik.
Steve had been vague about what exactly it was he wanted Charles to do, and Charles had caught him sharing a couple of uncomfortable glances with Tony, but when he had tried to read the man, Steve had very pointedly not been thinking about anything in particular. Still, Charles trusted that whatever it was he and the Professor were meant to do, it would benefit the rest of the team in some way.
Once he and the Professor were out of the Humvee, Charles watched as Tony shook hands with the pilot and said something to him that Charles couldn't hear over the noise of the helicopter.
"Come on," Erik said, and the strange tension that had taken over him since they'd left the haven of their bed that morning intensified. Charles tried to read him, but apparently Erik had been practicing more than levitation with Magneto, because his mental shields were firmly in place. Charles remembered how focused and determined Erik had been en route to Cuba; at the time, he'd chalked it up to the upcoming confrontation with Shaw, but maybe Erik was always this tightly coiled before a battle.
Charles' confusion grew when Erik, with the help of Tony, got him and the Professor into the helicopter, buckled into actual seats instead of their wheelchairs. The chairs were still sitting outside the helicopter near the Humvee, which was running idle.
"Erik, what's going on?" Charles asked, turning toward Erik, trying not to give in to the sudden panic fluttering in his stomach, but Erik wouldn't look at him. Tony looked vaguely guilty. While Erik was making a concentrated effort to keep him out, Tony had neither the knowledge nor the inclination to do so. Charles didn't need to do more than brush his surface thoughts to understand what was happening.
"No," he said flatly. "I'm not getting on some helicopter and leaving the city while you fight an apocalyptic battle! Leave me here if you must, but I refuse to run away."
"You're vulnerable here," Erik told him quietly, expression pained as he avoided Charles' eyes.
"Erik," Charles said, and he was aware that his tone was pleading, but he couldn't bring himself to care. "Please, my friend, don't do this to me again. Don't shut me out. Not like you did with Shaw. Please. You've said it yourself: we've always been better together. Stronger."
"I can't fight the Herald while I'm worried about your safety, Charles. I just can't."
"Then don't," Charles exclaimed. "I can take care of myself! Let me worry about me and stop trying to decide what's best for me, for God's sake!"
"Charles – "
"Erik, I beg of you, please. Don't do this. Look at me, Erik. Look at me."
"Charles," the Professor said gently. "Go to sleep."
Charles barely registered that the suggestion wasn't a casual one before the darkness overtook him.
###
Erik held his emotions in check as Charles slumped forward in his seatbelt, but only just. He dug his nails into his clenched fists to keep himself from losing control. This is what he had wanted.
The Professor turned to them. "No worries, gentlemen. I know my limits," he said with an easy, friendly smile. "I will keep an eye on Charles. Please, for both our sakes, be safe."
Tony nodded, first to the Professor and then to the pilot, before heading back to the waiting vehicle behind them.
Erik felt rooted to the spot, unable to make his feet move.
"Erik," the Professor said quietly, smiling in soft reassurance when Erik finally managed to look up at him. "We will be safe. Charles will be safe. He will forgive you for this, I promise. Now go."
Erik nodded. With one last glance at Charles, his beautiful, stubborn, perfect Charles, he closed the door to the helicopter and ran back to the Humvee.
He closed his eyes as his head rested heavily against the seat, unable to bring himself to look back.
###
Erik felt grim as he made it to the meeting point at Turtle Pond in Central Park. He and Tony had parted ways so that Tony could, as he put it, "get dolled up for the big dance."
The others looked about as grim as Erik felt, which was, at the moment, a small comfort.
"Put it out of your mind," Magneto told him as he approached the group. Erik wanted to be angry, to retort that Magneto had no idea, before realizing that actually, Magneto had every idea. He took a deep breath and nodded, straightening to full height as he put aside his inner turmoil to focus on the here and now of the job he had to do. Sending Charles away against his will had not made Erik feel better about the imminent battle, but he couldn't think on it now.
Instead, he studied the group amassed together, awaiting Steve's orders. His eyes lingered on Thor.
After a moment, Thor noticed, his brow furrowing. "Is there something amiss, angry metal man?"
Erik shook his head. "I… no. I just… I really like your cape."
There was a silent pause, and then laughter erupted around him, breaking the uneasy tension. Even Magneto was smiling.
"It is of very fine craftsmanship," Magneto agreed with a nod to Thor, and Thor laughed, pleased. The smile faded from his face, however, as he turned his eyes to the sky.
The dark spot against the sun was slowly but surely growing larger.
"Ok," Steve said, rubbing his hands together. "Barton, you're our eyes. I want you up as high as you can get, updating us as frequently as you can about what's happening. Natasha, Jean, Scott and I will handle ground control and help any remaining civilians trying to leave the city. Tony, Erik, Magneto, Hank and Logan will focus on the Herald. Storm and Thor, you know what to do."
Storm quirked her lips in a smile, eyes flashing. "Hey Thor? Let's make it rain."
Thor's booming laughter cracked like thunder as he wrapped an arm around Storm and, with a whirl of his hammer, they shot up into the air and disappeared.
Clint tugged on his bowstring, nodding in satisfaction as it snapped back into place before saluting the group and running off toward 5th Avenue.
"Good luck, gentlemen," Steve said with a nod toward Erik, Magneto, Hank and Logan. Natasha secured two knives in her boots, Scott adjusted his visor, and Jean cracked her knuckles before they too were off, following Steve in the opposite direction of Clint.
"How'd you get out of boy scout duty?" Logan asked Bruce, flicking cigar ash in his direction.
Bruce laughed, but Erik didn't detect much humor in it. "The other guy pretty much does what he wants in these situations."
"And when do we get to meet this infamous "other guy", bub?" Logan asked, clearly less than impressed.
Erik turned as he heard a distant mechanical whirr, growing louder as a shiny red and yellow object in the sky approached them.
"Gentlemen," Tony's voice called out, amplified from his steel suit, "we've got company."
Erik turned again, focusing on the direction Tony had indicated from mid-air. Sure enough, in addition to the spot that was beginning to shade the sun, there was a swarm of much smaller dots heading toward them, growing larger and gaining shape as they came closer.
The cyborgs.
"You wanted to meet the other guy?" Bruce asked, turning to face the approaching enemy with a feral grin that was uncharacteristic of the kind, aloof man that Erik knew Bruce to be. "Well, now's your chance."
Erik watched in awe as Bruce transformed from a man to a colossal green giant of a creature, towering over them, leaving them in shadow. The Hulk roared at the approaching cyborg army before taking off toward them at a lumbering run.
Logan whooped in obvious delight, tossing the remnants of his cigar to the ground, grinding it with his boot. "Now that's what I'm talking about! Let's kill us some fucking robots, gents."
"Cyborgs, Mr. Howlett," spoke JARVIS from Tony's suit.
"JARVIS?" Erik asked, taking no small amount of pleasure in his next words, "Shut the fuck up and get to work."
###
Charles slowly made his way back to consciousness, eyelids heavy. He felt momentarily disoriented as he looked around, wondering why he was in what looked like a helicopter with the Professor and –
It hit him like a freight train, and he turned accusing eyes on the Professor. "How could you? How could you have just – "
"Charles, please be quiet for just a moment, I need to concentrate."
Charles gaped and sputtered, completely at a loss for words, until he heard in his mind, My dear fellow, you want to turn this helicopter around and return us to the city immediately.
"We're turning around," the pilot announced from the cockpit, and Charles' eyes widened slightly. "I'm taking you back to the city."
Charles turned to the Professor. "I don't understand."
The Professor smiled that serene, knowing smile at him, the one that Charles both couldn't wait to perfect and also found somewhat irritating. "It's much easier for Erik and Tony to think their ploy has work and that we're miles away from the city."
"You never intended for us to leave," Charles breathed, feeling a little dumbfounded and, admittedly, a bit proud of his future self.
"Certainly not," the Professor huffed. "We may be physically limited, but that doesn't mean we cannot contribute in meaningful ways. Your Erik is a bit more… stubborn minded regarding this than mine."
"And Tony!" Charles exclaimed, still feeling incensed. "Please, tell me why Magneto hit him in the face when you met him for the second time, I rather think it will make me feel better."
The Professor laughed, shaking his head. "Tony told me that I was incredibly good looking for an old man with no hair."
Charles looked at the Professor, laughing in quiet surprise, his anger momentarily forgotten. "Really? That's it? Which part did he take offense to, the insult or the compliment?"
"You know, I was never able to tell," the Professor chuckled.
"He knows, doesn't he?" Charles asked, the humor of the moment fading as he looked out toward the city skyline. "Magneto, I mean. He knows we're coming back."
The Professor nodded. "We all have our parts to play, Charles."
###
Erik sent a piece of chain link fence flying at a group of bots who'd been after them on foot and quickly added 'cyborgs' to the long list of things he absolutely hated.
Logan tore the head off an errant cyborg that'd leapt onto his back from an alleyway, tearing at the robot's neck with his claws in one fell swoop. He kicked the fallen remains for good measure.
"Where the fuck is Stark?" Logan growled, punching another cyborg in the face as it rounded the corner of 58th and Madison Avenue.
"Circling the block," Erik called to him as he levitated up two cyborgs and sent them flying into a third, watching them crash into a heap with satisfaction. Magneto had levitated himself up to what looked like fifth story height, lassoing a growing group of cyborgs with a long piece of chain he'd managed to call up from an abandoned shed a couple of blocks over. He could hear Hank tearing apart cyborgs with his bare hands from somewhere behind him.
Tony tore around the nearest building, stopping to hover a few feet in front of Erik and Logan. "There's still no sign of the Herald. Clint's dealing with a group from the top of Lincoln Plaza. Steve and Jean are holding down the fort a few blocks from Rockefeller while Scott and Natasha are getting civilians underground. Storm and Thor have been frying as many of these bastards as they can from Stark Tower, but the bots are on the move. We need to head east."
Erik nodded, throwing his hands up to catch a cyborg that'd leapt from a building window in hopes of landing on Tony, holding it motionless in midair. Tony turned, and although Erik couldn't see his expression, he imagined it was one of inconvenienced annoyance. Tony raised an arm and launched a tiny ball of fire at the cyborg, which exploded on impact.
"Thanks, Lehnsherr."
"Don't mention it."
They turned a corner and Erik collided with something warm and solid, the impact briefly knocking the wind from him.
"Sorry, dude!" said a voice, reaching out to steady Erik, who recoiled instantly. The young man appeared fairly plain and unassuming, dressed in jeans and a hoodie, and when he saw Tony hovering in the air, his face broke out into a grin. "Shit, you're Iron Man. Tony Fucking Stark! I've seen you on TV."
"Congratulations, you have eyes. You need to leave the city," Tony told him, but the man just shook his head, grin widening as he favored them all with an amused once-over.
"No way man," he laughed, sprinting off toward the park. "I've got a front row seat to the end of the world!"
"Son of a bitch," Tony groaned, moving to follow him.
"Leave him," Logan said, reaching out to hook his adamantium blades into the boot of Tony's suit with a grind of metal on metal that had both Erik and Magneto flinching. "We've got bigger fish to fry."
"You know, you really need to stop vandalizing my property," Tony said shortly, yanking his foot away.
"Touchy, touchy," Logan replied with a grin.
Erik chuckled to himself, increasing his speed as they ran down the streets of Manhattan.
###
"My God," Charles said softly as the helicopter approached the city. The pilot, still under the effects of the Professor's mental suggestion, seemed completely indifferent as he flew closer to what looked like an enormous swarm of angry bees. "I didn't imagine that there would be so many."
"The cyborg army is formidable," the Professor said. "But it appears that, for now, the battle has been contained to the inner city."
"What are we going to do, Professor?" Charles asked, at a loss. He hadn't the slightest idea how to face an army of cyborgs equipped with nothing but his telepathy.
Before the Professor could reply, the helicopter gave a great shudder, followed by the angry beeping of warning alarms.
A group of airborne cyborgs had spotted them and were opening fire.
The helicopter gave another great shudder, and Charles could hear the grinding of metal as the rotor blades of the helicopter began to sputter and break down.
The sudden drop made Charles' stomach plummet, and out the front window he could see the city growing closer and closer at an alarming rate.
"Hold on," the pilot said as he tried to steer the failing helicopter down safely. They narrowly avoided colliding into a tall building as the pilot tried to maneuver down a wide, deserted city street.
Out of the corner of his eye, Charles caught sight of another airborne cyborg aiming a large gun right at them. He closed his eyes and reached out with his mind. The cyborg wasn't human, but it wasn't entirely machine, either, because he brushed something, if only he could breach whatever it was that –
With a loud, violent crash, the helicopter collided with the side of a building, gravity dragging the remains of the broken body to the ground below.
Charles couldn't gauge the distance, but he knew they were still up high enough to crash hard. He took the Professor's hand in his own and braced himself for impact.
###
Magneto felt the helicopter long before it returned to the city, its metallic vibrations humming underneath his skin like a beacon. He refused to let himself be distracted by scanning the skies for a visual, but he kept a small part of himself focused on it, on the metal of the rotor blades as they were hit with the cyborgs' firepower and ceased to function, on the steel of the helicopter's body as it fell to the ground, collided with a city building and finally impacted on the street below. He felt the crash, the destruction of the metal like a physical ache. He couldn't hold back his soft gasp. He knew it was coming, he knew it, but that didn't make it hurt any less, knowing the danger that the Professor and Charles were in.
Erik had heard him and turned, looking at him with a furrowed brow. "What's wrong? Are you all right?"
Magneto nodded, catching his breath. "Yes. I'm fine. Anthony… I believe if you ask Mr. Barton to look to the south, he'll be able to give us the location of the Herald."
"Are you sure? Shit. Barton, do you copy? Look south, do you see the Herald?"
Erik's perceptive gaze was still on him, but Magneto refused to give a voice to thoughts of the man who was both their strongest weakness and greatest strength.
"Guys," Tony cut in, revving his suit up, "he's here."
###
Charles groaned as he shook his head, as if he could physically remove the shock of the impact on his person. He hadn't lost consciousness, he didn't think, but he was definitely disoriented. He needed to concentrate.
He blinked once, twice, three times, vision coming back into focus. He realized, after looking around the wreckage, that he was upside down, still buckled into his seat. He looked over at the Professor, who had somehow been ripped out of his own seat and was lying on what had been the ceiling of the cabin. He was motionless, eyes closed, and there was blood running down his face from somewhere Charles couldn't see.
Oh God. Oh God.
He forced himself to remain calm. It wouldn't do himself or the Professor any good if he chose this moment to panic. He groped around for the release of his buckle, letting out a small cry of triumph when he found it.
He hit the ground hard on his shoulder, groaning as he felt something pop. His groan was met with another, deeper one, coming from the front of the wreckage.
"Hello?" Charles gasped out, rolling himself so that he was on his stomach, hands finding purchase on the ground beneath him.
"Think we… crashed…" said the pilot, looking back at him. The pilot noticed the Professor as well, his eyes widening. "Shit. I don't… I mean… what do we… shit."
Charles closed his eyes and reached out to touch the man's mind with his own. Go now. Leave the city. You do not need to worry about anything else.
The pilot gave him and the Professor one last glassy eyed, vacant look before crawling out of the wreckage through the front window, which had shattered entirely.
Charles took a deep breath and began to drag himself over to the Professor. He cursed himself for not thinking to pry into Tony's mind sooner, before it had been too late to stop him. Shards of glass scraped across his palms, and he cursed every moment he'd ever decided to put his blind faith in someone. Even Erik. Especially Erik.
You don't mean that, chided an inner voice in his mind. It sounded suspiciously like Raven. He reluctantly conceded the point.
He reached the Professor and felt along his neck for a pulse, releasing a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding as he felt it beating strong and steady beneath his fingers. The blood, Charles could see, was coming from an injury to the back of the Professor's head. It looked to be a superficial, surface wound, but Charles didn't want to take any chances, especially with the amount of blood the Professor had already lost. He spotted the pilot's cap and grabbed it, pressing it up against the Professor's head to stop the blood flow.
As the echoes of battle sounded around them, Charles tried not to let himself feel very real fear.
###
Many of the cyborgs had remained airborne during the battle, riding on strange alien machines that looked like scooters but hovered like aircrafts. The Herald arrived on something similar, suspended in the air with all of Sebastian Shaw's confidence but none of his charm. Erik loathed him on sight. He was large and imposing, bigger than a cyborg, with dark, menacing eyes and long digits that looked more like tentacles than human fingers.
He looked at their small group of heroes as if they were nothing more than ants, an inconsequential nuisance to be quickly dealt with. Most everyone had gathered together but Clint, who was still fighting off cyborgs from on high, and the Hulk, who had been smashing apart cyborgs in Times Square the last anyone had seen him.
"Your fight is in vain, mortals," the Herald told them. His voice was low and scratchy, a dark and cruel sound.
"Can we skip this part?" Tony asked, rising up to face the Herald. "I get so sick of you assholes. All you do is talk talk talk."
"Remind you of anyone?" Logan murmured wryly.
Before the Herald could reply, Tony laughed happily, the sound slightly tinny through his suit. All around them, cyborgs began dropping from the sky.
"My AI just managed to scramble every single one of your Rosie Robots. Oh, and also?" Tony launched two large blasts of firepower at the Herald, the force of which rocked Tony backward several feet.
As the smoke cleared, Erik could see that the Herald was both unmoved and unharmed. He grinned, showing a row of greenish, fanglike teeth, and began to laugh.
Behind him, the blotch on the sun grew bigger still, and for the first time, Erik could make out the outline of a shape. A creature. A monster.
Galactus.
###
For a few moments, all Charles could do was hold the makeshift compress to the Professor's head and try not to panic.
"Ok. We're trapped here, quite literally, because you're unconscious and neither of us can walk. There's a very big battle going on around us and I've no idea what to do. You seemed like you had a plan. Perhaps you should wake up now and tell me that plan."
Wake up,Charles sent to the Professor, mentally poking at his mind.
He sighed when the Professor remained unconscious, closing his eyes, once again trying not to give into the helplessness that was threatening to overtake him. He'd felt a spark of something when he'd tried to breach the cyborg and whatever passed for its mind. If only he'd had more time. If only…
He opened his eyes and looked at the Professor, an idea forming in his head. It was possibly crazy. It probably wouldn't work. But he had nothing left to lose.
Charles took the Professor's hand in his own and took a deep breath, centering himself. He gently reached out, touching the Professor's mind with his own, opening himself up, pushing past the surface of the Professor's consciousness to find the deeper, subconscious parts of his mind.
When he found it, his mind brushed against it, brief and gentle, before a bright, white spark linked their minds, causing a physical shudder that rocked Charles' entire body. He didn't let go of his hold on the Professor's hand, gripping it tighter as suddenly the Professor's power was his power, it was something shared, and it was flowing between their newly connected conscious minds.
For one single, infinitesimal moment, Charles understood what it meant about absolute power corrupting absolutely as he reached out and effortlessly touched every single mind within the city. The control was heady, as if he were drunk on the power it gave him and all the possibilities it possessed.
The moment as gone as quickly as it had come, and Charles focused on holding steady every single mind he was now touching. He barely registered the trickle of something wet and warm running from his nose. It didn't matter. He needed to focus. With determined concentration, he could tell human apart from cyborg apart from mutant apart from… there.
Charles had managed to touch the Herald's mind.
###
Erik reached backward, calling forth all of the metal he could feel in the vicinity and launching it at the Herald with every bit of power he possessed. Pieces of buildings, piping, vehicle doors, all of it flew at the Herald, blow after blow landing on him as he threw up his arms up to shield himself.
Thor raised Mjolnir to the sky, calling upon lightning to strike down on the Herald as Storm aided and strengthened it with wind currents. Tony continued to fire any ammo his suit could muster at will. Clint had made his way down to join the rest of the team on the ground, firing timed explosives at the Herald from his bow in rapid succession.
The others held back the cyborgs, who, while scrambled and confused by JARVIS, were still operational and trying to attack.
Erik launched another body of metal at the Herald, this one large enough to take him by surprise. The Herald cried out and fell from his flying vehicle to the ground below.
"Dude, did you just fucking knock him out with a Vespa?" Tony asked, laughing in triumph as Magneto secured a metal field around the stunned Herald. The group surrounded him, various weapons pointed at him, ready to attack.
"Tell your boss that dinner's been cancelled," Steve said. The force field began to flicker, and Steve glanced over at Magneto with a frown.
"How else can we contain him, Magneto?" Steve asked.
Erik moved closer to help Magneto strengthen the magnetic field he'd built around the Herald when suddenly his entire body froze. He could see that he wasn't the only one. Everyone was motionless, as if frozen in time.
He felt Charles' presence, so familiar that it may as well have been a part of Erik. But it was also different. Stronger. Amplified. More. Slowly, he felt Charles release his hold on him, followed by the rest of the Avengers and the X-Men. The cyborgs, and more importantly, the Herald, were still frozen in place.
Erik watched in awe as the cyborgs dropped to the ground all at once, as if someone had pressed an "off" switch on their power source. The Herald made a noise of distress, fighting off Charles' control. In the back of his mind, Erik wondered how Charles was doing this, how Charles had even made it back to Manhattan, but his focus was drawn to the silent battle between Charles and the Herald.
"I will kill you, telepath," the Herald snarled, clutching at his head as he sank to his knees.
Erik felt his blood run cold and his fury rise at the words. He clenched his fist, twisting it to loop the nearest pliable metals around the Herald's midsection, squeezing it tightly.
"Galactus," the Herald gasped, "will come back. He will… always… come back…" He screamed, then, raw and filled with agony, before slumping forward, the fight all but gone out of him.
"What… what the fuck just happened?" Tony asked.
"Charles has incapacitated his mind. We have bound his body. Galactus' vessel must be killed. Would you like the honors, Anthony?" Magnteo asked, lowering his magnetic field.
Tony turned to the Herald, hands still raised in preparation to launch any fire power that may have been needed. "I…"
From behind them came a roar. The Hulk leapt over their heads and turned, grabbing the Herald and snapping his neck in one clean, solid break.
He turned his large, disapproving eyes on Tony. "Too slow."
Erik was pretty sure that Logan began laughing first, but as the blurry dark spot over the sun slowly began to disappear, he couldn't help but join in.
They'd won.
###
Charles felt it, the moment the Herald died. He wasn't as enmeshed in the creature's mind as he had been in Shaw's, and dealing with an alien mind to start with had made quite a bit of difference. Still, he couldn't help the shaky but relieved laugh from escaping when he knew it was really and truly over. He and the Professor were still trapped, the Professor was still injured, but the world had been saved, and Charles didn't think they were in any real peril now.
He took a deep breath, laughter turning soft. His hands stung from where the glass had cut him and his shoulder was still throbbing from his rough landing. His head ached fiercely, and he felt a strange sensation niggling at the back of his mind, no doubt an after-effect of using his telepathy in such a way for the very first time. Despite this, he also knew that Erik would find him.
He checked the Professor's pulse again, still beating strong and steady. "You really can wake up now," Charles told him. "I'm fairly certain we've won."
He was met with silence, but as long as the Professor continued to breathe, Charles refused to believe he would be anything other than all right. Charles kept his hold on the Professor's hand as he closed his eyes.
He started awake, not even realizing he'd fallen asleep, when he heard a voice calling to him.
"Charles? Professor? Hello? Are you in there? Shit, fucking suit, so bulky, JARIVIS, make a note that I need to build myself a slimmer suit, I can't even get in here to - "
"Tony," Charles interrupted with a hoarse chuckle. "I'm here. We're here. I'm all right. The Professor is injured, but he's breathing and seems to be otherwise unharmed."
"Thank God. Everyone else is on their way," Tony said, just as Charles heard a booming, "Tiny Professor! Fear not! I am here to save you!"
"Thor," Charles smiled fondly. Other voices joined in, and it was the frantic, "Charles! Charles!" that cut into the noise of the others.
Erik.
Erik knelt down onto the ground, looking into the wreckage for Charles. Charles smiled when their eyes met – he was still angry with Erik for what he'd done, furious, even, but all of that was overridden by how happy and relieved he was to see Erik in that moment.
"Hello, darling," he said.
"Liebling," Erik breathed. "Hold on. Don't move. Magneto and I are going to move the wreckage until we can get to you."
Charles nodded and Erik hesitated, looking at him with a gaze filled with such intensity and emotion that Charles almost couldn't breathe. "You're all right?"
"Yes," Charles told him. "Now get us out of here."
Erik gave him a brief smile before disappearing, and Charles heard the groan and grind of metal being torn from metal. Before too much longer, the remnants of the cockpit had been torn away, leaving a large, gaping hole into the cabin where Charles and the Professor were.
Magneto moved in immediately, lifting the Professor gently but securely in his arms, murmuring, "I've got you, Charles. I've got you. I'm here."
Erik had moved to his side as well, gently moving Charles so that he was resting securely in his lap. Charles looked up at him and quirked a smile. "This is getting to be a rather familiar position for us," he said, trying to lighten the mood.
Erik, who was doing his best to blink away the sudden moisture that had appeared in his stormy eyes, just shook his head and bent down, placing a kiss on Charles' forehead.
"Is everybody all right?" Steve asked, kneeling down in front of the opening Erik and Magneto had created, smiling at them in that easy, affable way of his.
"Captain," Magneto said, "would you help me with Charles, please?"
Steve nodded and together they maneuvered the Professor out of the wreckage and into the street, where he was once again settled comfortably and gently against Magneto, who was speaking softly into his ear.
"Erik, love, help me out of here?" Charles asked, suddenly wanting nothing more than to see the beautiful, cloudless sky, free of the looming threat of any enemies.
"Of course," Erik said softly, lifting Charles carefully out of the wreckage and into his arms.
Charles exhaled, smiling at Erik and the assembled Avengers and X-Men around them.
"Well done, my friends," he said, nodding to them all.
"Who's up for Italian?" Tony asked cheerfully.
###
Erik thought it was entirely possible that he felt just as relieved as Magneto did when the Professor finally woke up, acting his usual easy-going self, brushing off everyone's concerns and Darling, do stop frowning. Magneto and Jean were using their combined abilities to sort-of levitate the Professor the few blocks back to Stark Tower while Captain America carried Charles. Erik had insisted he was perfectly capable of doing it himself, thank you very much, but once Storm had pointed out that he was tired and more than a little frazzled, Erik had had to concede the point. He was pretty sure Charles had swooned in Steve's arms, but ignorance was bliss, and Erik was choosing to believe his eyes were simply playing tricks on him.
Distracted as he was, weighing his chances in a duel for Charles' honor, the firm grip on his wrist took him completely by surprise. He jumped, twisting away on instinct, but the hand on his wrist only gripped him more tightly.
Erik's eyes narrowed as he tried to place the man who currently had him in an iron hold. He looked vaguely familiar.
"I guess you didn't get that front row seat after all," Tony said, and Erik remembered the young man he'd quite literally run into during the battle. He tried to pull his arm away again, but the man simply smiled, nails digging into Erik's skin. Erik studied his face, and realized with a growing sense of unease as he looked into the man's eyes that there was something wrong.
"I told you I'd kill you, telepath," the man said, turning to smile nastily at Charles. "But I think I'll start with your friend."
He lunged at Erik, who threw up his free hand in an attempt to shield himself. He braced for impact, but nothing happened. Erik felt the grip on his wrist loosen as he lowered his hand, looking down at the man now crumpled at his feet, his body wracked with spasms. Erik immediately turned to look at Charles and saw that Charles' eyes were closed, fingers to his temple, expression at once both serene and grimly determined.
The man did not make any noise, and after a moment his body stilled, eyes open and vacant, staring at nothing. Charles' hand dropped and his own eyes opened, and Erik had never seen such an expression in those cherished depths, not even in Cuba – there was fire in Charles' eyes, like molten steel, and also a fathomless pain. Magneto's words came rushing back to Erik, the ones about Charles knowing the pain of taking another life, and suddenly Erik knew what Charles had done.
"I'm sorry," Charles whispered. "I'm so sorry." Beyond Charles, Magneto and the Professor looked grim.
"What the hell was that?" Tony asked, voice echoing off the nearby buildings in the sudden silence.
"It was the Herald," Charles said, voice cracking. "As soon as the Herald died, the last vestiges of his consciousness latched on to that man's mind… I saw it when I read him. I… I think it may have been my fault, that establishing such a powerful telepathic connection during the battle made it possible for his mind to…" Charles couldn't finish, looking absolutely stricken, and Erik ached for him.
"Good riddance," Logan murmured, turning to face Charles. "Don't beat yourself up, Chuck. You did the right thing."
He was going to kill you, Charles spoke desperately into Erik's mind.
I know, Liebling. I know. I love you. I wouldn't have hesitated to do the same. Alles ist gut, Charles. Alles ist gut.
Erik approached Steve, who was still holding Charles in his arms. "May I?" he asked quietly. Steve nodded, gently moving Charles into Erik's waiting arms. Charles clung tightly to Erik's neck, face white and ashen. Erik placed a brief, gentle kiss to his temple before he began walking the remaining couple of blocks to Stark Tower. Hank flanked them like an honor guard, smiling reassuringly at Charles whenever he caught the other man's eye.
Thor joined them on Erik's other side. "You may not feel as such, but you have acted in both honor and valor as a true warrior. You take no pleasure in your duty, but fight to protect those you love above all else. It is an honor to have fought by your side, Tiny Professor."
Charles nodded his thanks and Thor inclined his head in recognition of it. Erik gave Thor a brief nod himself, grateful for Thor's gesture, even if it hadn't done much to ease the tumult Erik knew Charles was feeling.
The sun was low in the sky by the time they reached the main doors of Stark Tower.
"I'm surprised the press isn't here, clamoring for yet another eloquent Stark statement," Natasha teased, propping the door open.
"I've got a really good one, too. Alas, I'm afraid anyone not us is dealing with cyborg clean up at the moment. I'm sure Fury is thrilled."
"Clean-up is his favorite," Clint said with a grin.
"Magneto, if you want to come upstairs, I think I can take a look at that bump," Bruce said, motioning to the Professor, who was still nestled snugly between Magneto and Jean.
Magneto nodded, and the four of them moved to the elevator. The Professor turned in Magneto's arms, favoring Erik and Charles with his open, honest gaze. "Erik, Charles, it has been a pleasure. Take care of yourselves, please. And each other."
Magneto had fixed him with a look that Erik couldn't quite decipher, and he took a moment to feel a sort of awe at the fact that even in fifty years, he would still be a bit of a mystery to himself.
"Thank you," Charles managed, both earnest and sincere in only the way that Charles could be. Erik caught twin smiles on the faces of the Professor and Magneto just before they disappeared from sight.
"So I guess that means you two are leaving soon," Tony said, still in his suit of armor, minus the head, which he held tucked under his arm.
"Tony – "
Tony cut Charles off with a wave of his free hand. "You're going to miss the Italian, so, I don't know, remember this conversation so that when Bruce patches up the Professor, I can buy you extra helpings or something. Because I'll owe you. The Italian, I mean. Since you're leaving."
Charles laughed. "All right, Tony. We wont forget."
Tony nodded, and an odd expression crossed his face before he nodded again, this time more firm and sure.
"Ok. So... good-bye."
It was awkward and so completely Tony that all Erik could do was laugh, smiling with all of his teeth as Tony got into the elevator, followed by the rest of the Avengers.
"Fuck, stop smiling like that, Jesus Christ!"
Steve gave them a salute and a lopsided smile. "Good luck, gentlemen."
When the doors had closed again, Erik surveyed the remaining X-Men. Hank gave him a pat on the shoulder.
"I'll see you soon. A bit sooner than these guys, yeah?"
Storm laughed, wrapping an arm around Scott. "Don't take too long finding us, ok?"
Everyone looked at Logan, who looked back. "What? Do we all have to offer a parting shot? Fine, I'm not sorry I told you to fuck off."
Erik raised an eyebrow and Charles chuckled. "No, I don't imagine that you are. It has been… a genuine pleasure. I look forward to meeting you all again."
There didn't seem to be much else to say, and Erik was just beginning to feel slightly awkward, standing in the middle of the grandiose lobby of Stark Tower with Charles in his arms and a crowd of mutants staring at them, when his vision began to flicker.
"Uh, guys, are they supposed to be… shimmering?" Scott asked.
"This is it," Hank said excitedly. "I should've brought my notebook!"
"One of the first films to feature time travel was A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court, which was based on the novel of the same name by popular satirist Mark Twain," JARVIS chimed in helpfully. "Gute Reise, Herr Lehnsherr."
Fuck, Erik thought, before everything went dark.
###
"Darling, you worry too much," the Professor chided as Magneto hovered over Bruce's shoulder, his frown making the lines on his face even more pronounced.
"It looks like nothing more than a minor concussion," Bruce said with a smile as he gently pressed on the last of the bandaging he'd applied to the back of the Professor's head. "I'd say the concussion coupled with the blood loss has earned you a few days of rest and fluids. Otherwise, you'll be just fine."
"Did you hear that, love?" the Professor asked. "I'll live to annoy you another day."
"Thank God for tender mercies," Magneto said dryly, but the Professor could hear the waver underneath it.
"I'll let you get started on that rest," Bruce said, making quick and efficient work of gathering and disposing of his medical supplies. "Just let JARVIS know if you need me, or anything, really."
"Thank you kindly, Bruce," the Professor said with a smile as Bruce took his leave. He looked up at Magneto, eyes softening. "Our younger selves should be home now. I'm probably yelling at you."
Magneto chuckled softly, settling down next to the Professor on the bed. "Probably. It does seem to be one of your favorite pastimes."
The Professor laced their fingers together, peering at Magneto with a thoughtful expression. "Are you going to tell me what's wrong?"
Magneto quirked an eyebrow at him. "You aren't going to read it from mind?"
"I rather thought I'd do the polite thing and just ask."
"I rather think your telepathy is shot after Charles tapped into it."
"I'll never tell."
Magneto sighed. "I knew you'd be hurt. That's not something easily forgotten, even after fifty years. But it didn't occur to me, the first time around, that I didn't actually know whether or not you'd survive. That your injury may have been more complicated than I remembered it, or gotten worse after I wasn't around to see it."
"Oh, my love," the Professor said softly, bringing his hand up to Magneto's face, turning it toward his own and placing a soft kiss upon Magneto's lips.
"I'm not quite ready to be without my demanding, bossy, exhausting telepath," Magneto confessed softly.
"You're not getting off quite that easily," the Professor told him with a laugh, smiling fondly as he reached for their tablet, left discarded on the nightstand. "I'm afraid you're stuck with me for a while yet. Now, fancy a game of chess?"
Magneto returned the fond smile with one of his own. "I thought you'd never ask."
"Work up a good appetite, darling," the Professor told him, swiping a pawn to e4. "Tony owes us a week's worth of Italian."
###
Alles ist gut = all is good/well
Gute Reise = have a nice trip