WOW, its been a while. So lets just recap what's happened overall:

On the beach in Cuba, Charles reveals he's pregnant with Erik's child, but is taken prisoner by Sebastian Shaw and taken to a secret underground base in Ukraine. Moira managed to call the CIA and the mutants get rescued off the beach and transported back to Westchester. Charles wakes up in a strange room, strapped to a table and wired to a machine, preventing his use of telepathy. Erik searches the news for any clues as to where Shaw's taken Charles but finds nothing. Moira calls and says the CIA HQ has been destroyed, with Emma Frost missing and Cerebro stolen. They quickly figure out that Shaw is responsible. Moira then finds out that Cerebro was seen being transported into a base in Ukraine and decides that that is where Charles must be being held. Erik goes to rush off, but is stopped by Raven who doesn't want him to go alone, so they wait for Hank to finish building the Blackbird II. Shaw then reveals to Charles that his baby is male, half-telepath, half-metal kinetic and will not take 9 months to develop. While being beaten by Shaw, Charles is disconnected from the machine and sends a message to Erik, telling him the sex of the baby. That night, Erik has a nightmare about Shaw torturing Charles aaaand that's where this chapter picks up...phew.


Chapter 7

Erik jolted awake suddenly, realising he must've fallen onto the floor at some point during his nightmare. Shivering, he pushed himself off of the hard surface and sat down on the edge of the bed. He glanced at the clock on his bedside table; 3.19am. He really didn't know how much more he could take; struggling through each day with the knowledge that Shaw was torturing Charles and their son.

Son.

Erik smiled. As much as his body ached for revenge on Shaw, he couldn't help the little jump his stomach did whenever he thought about Charles and himself caring for a tiny baby boy. Grinning a shark-like smile, Erik rose from the bed and walked towards the door, grabbing his grey hooded jacket before he closed the door behind him. He strolled solemnly down the corridors of the Westchester estate with no planned destination in mind. Eventually, he found himself at the large entrance to Hank's lab, a room which no one seemed to enter without permission. Without a second thought, Erik entered the room, making no effort to silence his entrance. The lab was dully lit, a few table lamps scattered the desks which were the only source of light. Erik glanced around.

"Hank?" He called.

The young mutant emerged from behind one of the desks at the far side of the lad, glasses pushed down his nose.

"A little late for visiting, don't you think?"

Erik smiled slightly and nodded. "I was coming to enquire on the progress of the – erm, what did you call it?- Blackbird II?"

Hank yawned, which sounded more like a growl to Erik's ears. "Almost. I believe another few hours on it should do it, the engine has been giving me a few pro-"

"Did you say 'hours'?" Erik threw his hands up in front of Hank's face.

"Er, yeah."

"Then what the hell are we doing here? If you're so close to finishing then we need to get it done and get to Charles now!"

Metallic objects all around the lab began to shake as Erik's temper grew shorter and his patience wore thin.

"Erik, you have to understand: if something goes wron-"

"Now."

Hank, having a lot of common sense, decided it really wasn't worth arguing with a metal manipulator, not in a lab-based environment anyway. He nodded and shifted back towards the rear of the room, grabbing a large metal container marked 'X' and bringing it forward. He set it down in front of Erik. The older man flicked his wrist and the box opened, revealing their yellow suits.

"I kept them safe," Hank said, with a smile.

"Alright," Erik replied, "get ready to set off to the Airbase. I'll gather everyone else."

The pair nodded and set off to complete their tasks, Erik feeling riled up and ready for revenge.

X...X

Emma Frost sat alone in the large living room of Shaw's hidden base, a slender glass of alcohol occupying her left hand. Her boss had handed the glass hastily to her just as he'd left to check on the other telepath. Miss Frost was not jealous of the male telepath, most certainly not. It was more envy, than jealousy; after all, she was no longer Shaw's favourite mind-reader. She didn't even see the big attraction with Charles: she'd easily kept him from entering her mind when they met in Russia. So what if he could bare children? So could she. Emma frowned hard. Still being Shaw's right-hand woman, she was fully aware of what the man had planned for Charles' 'oh so special' baby boy..and she didn't like it. It seemed so damn cruel. He was only an innocent child, he hadn't actually done anything against Shaw...

'No,' she thought, shaking off any negative thoughts. Her alliance was 100% with Shaw, and it was going to stay that way. Elegantly knocking back the remainder of the alcohol, Miss Frost stood up and walked out of the room and down the winding corridor towards two large, wooden double doors. The voices of the workers and the clattering of materials could be heard as she got closer. By the sounds of the workers' thoughts, Shaw's machine would be ready in 36 hours.

X...X

Charles groaned himself back into consciousness with gritted teeth. His left eye pounded with pain as he attempted to open it. As he tried to flex his aching muscles, Charles found himself to be even more constricted than before with a heavy helmet now occupying his head, restricting his telepathy. He tries to overcome the machine, to reach out to sense his son, but Charles is soon met with a sharp electric shock. Shaking it off, he glances down at his abdomen, noticing that even more wires and threads are attached to him, monitoring his son, no doubt. Panicking for his baby's well-being, the telepath begins to fidget about in an attempt to break free of the binds.

"You can wriggle all you want, Charlie. You're not getting out."

Charles can only manage to move his gaze towards Shaw, his head movements being stopped by the dammed helmet.

"Shaw, please," Charles begs, "this isn't necessary."

The older man steps forward, the telepath noticing Shaw's head is missing his helmet.

"On the contrary, my young friend, this is completely necessary." He towers above the telepath intimidatingly, and taps the contraption on Charles' head.

"Don't even think about getting out of that. Use your telepathy, you get shocked. Literally. Not good for you or your precious son." Shaw begins to chuckle manically as he walks out of the room, leaving Charles to drown in the silence.