Later on the plane, Elizabeth, sandwiched between Erik and Charles smiled. Erik on her left was staring out the window lost in the past, she touched his hand lightly, her turned to her and smiled clasping his hand with hers. She shared what the mental picture of the children being chastised by Moira
"Why do I feel as if that was the principal handing off the children to their parents for punishment?" She thought to him chuckling softly Charles looked at her strangely trying to decipher what is was that was so funny as Erik also laughed
"Mien Gott, I never really wanted children and now we have six." He replied back to her
"If they are our kids what does that make Charles and Moira?" Elizabeth asked now full out laughing
Charles finally reading both if their thoughts answered her question "Lizzie, I don't want to know, but I think that makes me the uncle."
In the truck on the way to the retreat, they were surprised by a check point. Elizabeth projected an illusion effortlessly as Charles focus on making their thoughts blurry so they would try to see through it, Erik watched them both nervously ready to step in if necessary. Once again the truck closed and they remained undiscovered, Erik let out a nervous breath and rested his hand on Elizabeth's leg, while she visible relaxed. A sense of foreboding filled her something bad was about to happen.
Charles as if sensing her thoughts thought to her "Lizzie, are you going to be okay?"
"Yeah, Charlie I'll be fine. I just have a really bad feeling that's all." She replied telepathically
When they arrived at the retreat, Elizabeth watched Erik cautiously. They saw Emma Frost arrive- alone.
Elizabeth shook her head "He's not coming, now what Moira?"
"Nothing, we're here for Shaw. Mission aborted." Moira replied
Erik threw down his binoculars "The hell it is-"
"Erik" Moira snapped
"She's his right hand woman, that's good enough for me." He snapped back
"The CIA invading the home of a senior soviet official? Are you crazy?" Sh e replied
"I'm not CIA" Erik replied and then ran
"That would be a yes Moira, he is crazy. I have to go after him. Erik!" Elizabeth snapped as she watched barbed wire come alive and coil around the guards as Erik shot toward the grounds, she ran after screamed mentally at him "Erik, Erik, Damn you! Don't go in there alone, you idiot."
"They are going to start World War III single-handedly." One of the agents snapped ,
"We have to do something" Charles yelled watching Elizabeth telekinetically battle the guards as Erik took others down with their own guns.
"like what?" The agent replied as Charles recalled his name Agent Levine, he turned to the others "we're moving out"
Charles looked at Moira "I'm sorry Moira. I can't leave them, I won't" he then ran after Erik and his sister pausing only to put the guards asleep, when he entered the house he collided with Elizabeth and Erik.
"Thank you, Charlie" Elizabeth thought his way, he nodded and the three burst into the main room together.
The general was in some sort of psychic illusion, but Emma Frost sat on the couch waiting patiently as if she had been expecting and Charles exchanged glares. Elizabeth smirked at Frost "Nice trick"
The general snapped out of the delusion and raised his gun at the group "Sleep" Charles commanded . He fell over unconscious immediately
"Ah, the power of mental suggestion" Elizabeth added
"Nice trick" Frost said before turning to her diamond form "You can stop trying to read my minds sugars"
Dammit it hurt to try, Charles rubbed his head "Afraid of telepathy won't be much help Lizzie, how bout your other skills."
"You're never going to get anything out of me like this" Frost's. smirk reappeared. This girl was seriously starting to annoy Elizabeth, Erik's blood started to boil and Charles well wasn't the only one who wanted to wipe that smirk off of Frost's face. Emma made a break for it, but Elizabeth slammed her telekinetically against the foot of the bed, Erik held her there tightly with the metal bed frame.
"So then you can just tell us , Frost." He told her " Where's Shaw" knowing that this woman held the location of a man he had been chasing since he had left Auschwitz decades before and he be damned if he let anyone get in the way of his revenge. The metal tightened still nothing
"Erik ?" Elizabeth asked again the metal tightened and the twins could see her struggling to breath still nothing
"Erik, that's enough" Charles said turning to his sister for some help
"Killing her won't help us find Shaw. We need her alive" she thought to him. Reluctantly he released her and she returned to her human form gasping for air.
"She is all yours" he said sitting down " She won't be shifting to diamond form again if she does Elizabeth give her a little telekinetic tap."
The twins scanned her mind piercing and penetrating , nothing was hidden from them in their quest "Oh, My God ..." Elizabeth said horrified at what she had seen
"Beautiful isn't it?" Frost asked
" Yes, if you're sick and twisted, which you clearly are" Elizabeth replied glaring at her with disgust. She pressed her fingers to Frost's temple commanding her to sleep, she complied.
"Erik, this is worse than we previously imagined" Charles told him
" Yes on a scale on one to ten this makes 20" Elizabeth added
Erik watched Elizabeth curiously "I thought that would be harder because she's like you"
Elizabeth inspite of her horror at Shaw's plan grinned "Doubting me, Love?"
"Nope, Never" he replied kissing her softly. Charles just rolled his eyes wishing Moira was here so it was less awkward with his sister making out with his best friend, as if anything could make it less awkward. He was however very glad that they were happy.
Four hours later, Elizabeth was curled asleep next to Erik when a piercing thought shot through her brain, "ELIZABETH! CHARLES!" The telepath jolted awake with a gasp startling Erik beside her and also finding Charles awake worried and concerned with the same ignored Erik, focusing all of her thoughts on Raven knowing that Charles was also doing the same. "Raven?" She asked
"Yes,we're being attacked. Shaw's mutants are here" her words ended but she sent her sibling a stream of images
"Elizabeth, darling' what's wrong?" Erik asked panicking and gripping her wrist.
Elizabeth was at loss for words she turned and nodded at Charles who spoke with a shaky breath " it's Shaw. He's attacking the base now."
"Oh my God he's after the children, Erik. Let me show you " Elizabeth spoke focusing on the input that Raven had shared with He and Charles
-the guards dying, finding Shaw in a strange helmet and two others arriving in the room.
"Where's the telepaths ?" Shaw asked the teleported known as Azrael
"Not here" he replied Erik's grip on her wrist intensified "Mein Gott" he thought in realization. Together the three of them watched it all; Shaw's offer, Angel's betrayal, and Darwin and Alex's trick. Elizabeth begged Darwin not to do this, but he was suddenly gone, the pain of his mind being suddenly extinguished threw both Elizabeth and Charles backward. "Elizabeth, Elizabeth" Erik's words made her focus. This was all her fault.
Listening in she heard Charles promise Raven that they were she broke the connection and sobbed into Erik. He heeled her close and dried her years, Charles looked at Erik who nodded signaling that he would handle this and Charles hugged his sister close and then left to brief Moira on the news.
"We're going to send them home. It's not safe for any of them, and I won't allow any more of our family to get hurt" Elizabeth decided determinedly
"You are maternal already" Erik noted glancing at her with curiosity
Her usually joy filled smile was replace with a ghost of one " No, Erik I wouldn't be a good mother; I'd be just like my own. A mother should always protect her children. I failed at that."
Erik was silent and thought about it looking at her "Not all mothers can protect their children, Liebling, sometimes the circumstances are out of our control. Look at my mother, she wasn't able to protect me, but that didn't make her any less of a mother." He told her quietly trying to reassure her and assuage her grief, yet she sensed his own at not only his mother's memory , but Darwin's death had hit him hard too. "You are a good mother to the children in this family we have collected darling" his honestly and gentleness soothed her, yet lingering guilt remained
"Erik, earlier I had a sense of foreboding like I knew something bad would happen; I should have listened to my intuition." She told him tears streaming down her face
"Darling, you couldn't have known; it would turn out this isn't your fault." Said Erik, the blame lay directly at the feet of Shaw.
"Thank you , Erik" she thought to him quietly " Are you ever going to tell me what Liebling means?" She ask
He chuckled "One of these days" she rested his head on her shoulder and he wrapped his arms around her and she quickly fell asleep.
As soon as the car parked, Elizabeth ran to the children hugging them as they cried together.
Charles at this point had reached them along with Erik and said ' we have made arrangements for you to be taken home immediately."
"No, we're not going home" immediately Alex replied
"He's right Charlie, most of them don't have homes to go back to, and Alex can't go back to prison" Elizabeth added
"He killed Darwin, we owe it to him to see this through" Alex argued
"All the more reason to leave" said Charles
Beside him, Raven spoke "Darwin's dead, Charlie and we can't even bury him."
next to Elizabeth, Erik, who had been quietly observing, spoke " We can avenge him." Everyone looked at him with shock and surprise
"Erik, Elizabeth a word?" Charles asked
"They are just kids!" Said Elizabeth she hated this idea less than sending them home, but she couldn't stand the idea of any of the children having the same gate as Darwin.
"No, they were just kids. Shaw has his army; We need ours." Countered Erik
"Erik, we can't lead them into a war that they can't properly fight." Argued Elizabeth fiercely not backing down
"So lets train them," he replied "You know I'm right" he thought to the twins which Elizabeth rolled her eyes at, Charles however saw reason and turned back to Moira and the children "We will have to train, all of us." He said sighing
"Yeah" Alex exclaimed as the others nodded in agreement.
"But We can't stay here," Hank said "even if they reopen the department, it's not safe."
A smile curled across Charles' lips "How do you feel about New York?" He asked as Elizabeth grinned knowing his plan.
