CH. 8 (WARNINGS: Cursing, Violence, Slightly graphic death)
A/N: Yo! Before we start I just wanna say thank you to everyone who has favourited/followed and reviewed! It makes my day every time I get a notification for this story, and they keep me writing. So, thanks! I hope you enjoy the climax of the story! (Sorry for any spelling mistakes, I didn't have a lot of time to really comb through this chap.)- Love (a grateful) RGIG
As Skylar prepared for the day in her room, she could feel a cloud of tension blanket the entire mansion. Every one of the huge house's residents was nervously awaiting the battle they would have to endure later, and Skylar couldn't help but worry about them all. She'd been alone for almost her whole life, and now that she had finally gotten some friends, they might all die very soon.
'Well it was good while it lasted.' Her inner voice sounded loaded with forced happiness and Skylar only frowned at her own attempt to lighten her mood. The telekinetic girl slipped out of her room and walked briskly down the long hallway that led to the sitting room everyone had agreed to meet in before they left for Cuba. When she stepped into the room, everyone was already there, excluding Hank.
"Morning." She said softly, flinching slightly at the amount of raw emotions slamming into her as soon as she set foot in the room. Everyone returned her greeting with varying degrees of enthusiasm. The brunette caught the very blue eyes of Charles before a bright blush coloured both their faces and they looked away. Skylar caught the smirk Erik tossed at Charles afterwards, though, and spared a moment to wonder what that was about.
"Where is he?" Alex growled out, sounding just as stressed as Skylar felt he was. The blonde turned to Raven- who was showing her blue skin today for some reason.
The shape changer put her hands up and shrugged, "Don't look at me." She said, crossing her arms and looking out a nearby window, "I haven't seen him since last night." She frowned at that and Skylar felt her sadness mix in with the other emotions. Maybe that was the reason behind her appearance. Skylar knew that she and Hank had been trying to create a serum to make themselves look "normal". Personally, Skylar thought that Raven looked amazing in her natural skin.
"Could he still be asleep?" Darwin asked skeptically. Everyone knew it wasn't likely, but nothing is impossible.
"Then let's wake him up." Erik said, scowling as he stood from the chair he had been lounging in. He strode out of the room and Charles quickly jumped up to follow him. The telepath was no doubt worried for Hank's safety if he was asleep. As a group, everyone scrambled after the two men, either being nosy or assuming they'd leave once they collected the scientist.
When Erik opened Hank's door, however, the notion that Hank could be asleep was thrown out the window. His work area was in total disarray. The tables were overturned and all of his equipment was strewn about the the room as if a tornado had crashed through while they weren't looking. In the middle of the room, was a large, black chest marked with an X made of black tape. A piece of paper was sitting on its lid and Charles walked into the room and picked it up.
"Meet me at the hanger. Put on what is in the chest marked X." He read the note and looked at the plain chest in front of him. He opened it quickly, raising an eyebrow at the contents. "It looks like Hank has been busy." He commented and stepped back so everyone else could see.
"Jumpsuits?" Alex asked, looking at the yellow and blue coloured clothing with disdain.
Skylar moved forward and picked one up with Sean's name pinned to the lapple, feeling the material. "It feels heavy duty." She said, searching for one with her name pinned to it. She found it at the bottom of the chest and pulled it all out together, whistling at the outfit.
Her suit didn't look the same as the others did. Where her teammates' suits were yellow, Skylar's was a midnight black. Attached to the shoulders, there was a hood as well. "Why is mine different?" She turned to Charles and the telepath shrugged.
"Hank must have his reasons." He shrugged and motioned for everyone to grab their suits. "Alright, put them on and come to the hangar. We don't have much more time."
Skylar was still staring curiously at Hank's new, blue fur as she boarded the jet behind Erik. He'd shown up mysteriously, showing his new appearance- and a new temper when he nearly choked Erik- just as the last of their group had made it to the hangar. When the newly dubbed Beast caught her looking, however, she quickly dropped her gaze for fear of coming off as rude.
She turned to Banshee instead. The ginger had just buckled in and was leaning his head back against his seat, letting out a long breath. He looked up when the jet started, and shot Skylar a nervous grin when they made eye contact. As the Black Bird took off, the empath looked around at her friends.
Darwin and Alex had their heads bent together, conversing in hushed tones. Charles and Erik were staring at one another silently, most likely having a mental conversation. Finally, Raven was sat across from Skylar, looking at her hands in her lap. Skylar felt so many mixed emotions coming off the girl that she couldn't even pick one out to focus on.
"Hey," the brunette whispered. Raven's head snapped up and she nodded. "You alright?"
"Groovy." Raven replied sarcastically, but she gave her friend a small smile. Skylar smiled back and Raven went back to her thoughts. Skylar closed her eyes and tried to meditate, hoping to clear her mind before they made it to Cuba. She would need it, she could already tell.
A few hours later, Beast's voice coming over her headset pulled her out of her trance. "Ladies and gentlemen, Cuba." He drawled as the plane banked to the left. Skylar looked through the window beside her seat and saw that they were passing over a large expanse of water. Far off to the right, she could see two sets of ships heading towards one another.
"The Russians are almost to the line." Moira said, putting a hand to her headset. "They've ordered their ship to turn around, but it's not responding!"
Skylar turned to watch Charles as the telepath pressed two fingers to his temple, closing his eyes. He opened them again a moment later, a frown on his face. "Azazel has killed all the men onboard the ship." He sat forward in his seat, "Hold on." He closed his eyes again and a few moments later Hank was cursing as the jet rolled suddenly. Outside of the Black Bird, the Russian ship was blown to bits.
The empath clutched to her seat belts tightly and squeezed her eyes shut. The jet finally stopped rolling and smoothed out, and the brunette pressed a hand to her mouth. Her stomach rolled still and she sent out a prayer to any deity that cared. 'Gods, please don't let me hurl right now.'
"A little warning next time, Charles?" Hank called out and Charles chuckled. Skylar cautiously opened her eyes again to see the firey remains of the destroyed ship through the window.
"How- You know what, not important." She rolled her eyes and decided she'd ask what he'd done later. 'If you live to see 'later', that is,' her brain supplied. Ignoring her morbid thoughts, Skylar scanned the water below that she could see. "Where is Shaw?" She asked, straining her eyes to see some clue to his whereabouts.
"He must be using a submarine." Hank called back over the headset. "And obviously we don't have sonar…" He growled and asked Moira if she was getting anything over the sensors.
"Yes we do." Banshee said calmly beside the empath and Skylar turned to look at him. "Yes we do!" He said louder, unbuckling and standing from his seat. Charles and Eric stood from their seats as well. "Beast, open the Bombay doors!" Sean called to the pilot and the floor dropped in front of him. Charles shouted a few things at the redhead, but Skylar couldn't hear them over the sound of air rushing into the cabin.
'He's just going to jump out of the fucking plane?!' She her mind shouted, watching the proceedings with wide eyes. She nearly screamed when Banshee stepped out into thin air and fell. 'Shit shit shit," she whipped around to look out of her window, searching for a glimpse of her friend, 'Please don't die!' She didn't have the right view to see him dive into the ocean, however, and didn't relax until she heard Charles shout to Beast.
"Banshee's got a location on Shaw!" The girl let out a relieved sigh and let her muscles relax from their tensed position. She turned back to look at Charles and Erik again just as the older man moved to climb on the underside of the jet.
'None of them have any kind of life preservation instinct, I swear.' She thought as Erik disappeared from view and Charles leaned halfway out of the floor to shout something to him. A few moments later, a submarine lifted out of the water and floated beside their jet. Skylar smiled at the sight, happy it had gone so well so far. The empath wanted to kick herself a minute later when things started to go not-so-well.
She watched as one of the mutants from the CIA base crawled out of the submarine and faced the Black Bird. Two huge funnels of wind rose from his palms and Skylar cursed as one of them caught the jet.
"Hang on!" Hank shouted as he tried to keep the plane level. There were alarms screeching and people shouting all around her, but even that cacophony of noise couldn't drown out the sound of the wing breaking off of the jet. "It's gonna get bumpy!"
"Fuck that!" Skylar screamed and put one hand on the low ceiling above her and the wall beside her. Her hands glowed and soon the jet was being coated in her dark energy. A scream tore itself from her throat as she struggled to get a hold over the humongous jet. "Aaagghh! I did not do all that training to die in a fucking plane crash!" She clenched her jaw and pushed harder with her power. As soon as the entire jet was covered, she pulled up on the nose to stop their straight down decent.
A moment later, the load became a lot lighter and she heard Erik grunt at the weight he picked up. His hands were shaking as he helped Skylar land the jet. The landing wasn't exactly smooth, but they did their best. And no one died, so technically it was a success.
"Is everyone alright?" Charles called out and he received a few shouts of affirmation from everyone else.
As soon as they stopped moving, Skylar let her energy dropped and unbuckled her belts. "Good gods get me out of this death trap!" She stumbled to her feet and turned to the exit. Before she could take a step towards it, though, her world spun and she fell to her knees. "Ok, whoa."
"Nyx!" Raven unbuckled her belts as well and knelt beside the brunette on the floor. Raven held out her arm and helped Skylar stand.
"I'm fine, just got a little light headed." We assured the other girls and stood on steadier legs than before. She looked around and noticed that Darwin, Alex, and Hank had all left the jet already. Erik was just running out onto the beach and Skylar looked to Charles. The Brit was talking to Erik through a mental connection.
"You have to go to the void, it's the only place he could be!" Charles ran to the cockpit to look out the window. Skylar turned to Raven as Moira followed after Charles.
"Can you protect Charles and Moira?" She asked the shapeshifter. "Erik might need some backup." Raven nodded quickly.
"Yeah, but," the girl's yellow eyes locked with Skylar's blue ones, "be careful."
"You too." Skylar nodded and ran after Erik. As her feet hit the sand outside and the bright sunlight invaded her vision, Charles's voice entered her thoughts.
'What are you doing?' His voice was stern and Skylar could practically hear the unspoken "Come back here, young lady!"
'Helping Erik,' Skylar said, shading her eyes and running for the destroyed submarine after the metal manipulator. 'Who knows what Shaw has planned! He's might need backup.' Skylar thought as she jumped over debris in her way. She skipped to a stop in front of a large hole in the nautical vehicle and ducked inside. She stepped into a narrow, carpeted hall and looked both ways.
'Go left.' Charles directed her and she smirked as she followed his orders to a large sitting room 'This is where Erik disappeared. The entrance to the void should be her-' Charles's voice suddenly cut off and Skylar froze in fear.
'Charles?!' At the answering silence, the girl almost turned around to run back to the jet. Something must be wrong-
'I'm fine, I just regained contact with Erik.' Skylar sighed in relief and immediately went back to looking for the entrance to what Charles called the "void". The wall directly in front of her shook violently for a moment and Skylar frowned.
She raised her hands and torn the wall apart, plaster flying everywhere as her energy ripped through the hidden doorway. As it fell way, a thick, metal door was uncovered. Skylar walked up to it and put her palms against the cool metal. It was resisting her energy and it felt like she had to work twice as hard to cover it then she had with the wall before.
'Erik is blocking me out,' Charles sounded strained, 'I've got Shaw immobilized, but you need to get in there.'
'Give me two seconds,' Skylar huffed as she pulled the metal wall apart slowly. The horrid screech it made as it tore made her skin crawl. As soon as she had a hole large enough for her to fit through, she stopped and rushed into that room. The support beams and metal pipes that littered the room made it difficult to get in, but she could see Erik and Shaw just a few feet from her.
Erik was wearing Shaw's helmet and talking in a low voice. He was saying something in a language Skylar didn't know, and he was moving a small coin slowly towards Shaw's head. By the time Skylar realized just what Erik was doing with that coin, it was too late.
"Erik, stop!" She screamed, reaching for the coin and tripping over a metal beam. She heard the sickening sound of the metal passing through Shaw's brain matter. She heard the sound of Charles screaming in her head, drowning out almost every other thought. His scream could stop her from feeling Shaw's pain, though.
The brunette clutched her head with her hands and her mouth opened in a silent scream as her powers connected with Shaw. Just like when her brother had died, it was as though her power amplified in the presence of the man's death. She could feel every nerve snap in his mind as if it her happening to her. The pain was unreal. When it finally- finally- stopped, she could only take deep breaths and try to hold herself up. Charles had left her mind and the silence seemed deafening.
"I'm sorry you had to see that." Erik's calm, emotionless voice echoed in the small room. Skylar looked up at the tall man before her and pushed herself off the ground. "It needed to be done." She scoffed as she stepped over the last few pieces of debris to stand in front of her friend.
"Charles had him frozen, Erik," Skylar said. Her voice was quiet, but it still carried enough to echo. "You didn't need to- to…" She shuddered, not able to finish her sentence. "We're supposed to be the good guys here, Erik." Their eyes meet and Skylar could feel both his pain and determination hit her like she'd walked into a wall.
"Nyx, you know as well as I do that killing him was the only choice for me." Erik snapped at her and he took a step toward her. "He killed my mother." Skylar's blue eyes widened and she felt her heart clench as the pain in the man's voice. She held the exact same inside if herself. "I killed him for that. I don't disagree with his view, only his methods."
"What do you mean?" Skylar frowned up at the metal manipulator.
"He was right in thinking the humans will try to destroy us, Nyx." Erik's voice was cold again, his pain covered with a mask. "They are afraid of us- afraid of their species's imminent extinction." The man reached out and put his hands on Skylar's shoulders, forcing her to look him in the eye. "They will try to get rid of us. We cannot live in harmony with them, it won't work."
Skylar shook her head, "No, Charles-"
"Charles is blind!" Erik spat, stepping back and looking at the floor. "He has never been felt the pain humans can inflict on those they despise…" Erik looked back up at Skylar. "But you have." The brunette's breath hitched. "They killed you brother- murdered him because you were different. They feared your difference and hated it."
Skylar shook her head and closed her eyes against the memories- the fire blazing, burning all around them- "Please, stop." She choked out as a tear slipped down her face.
"You know that I'm right!" Erik insisted, pushing the point. "You lived your life running, alone, and afraid because they would come for you, too!" His voice was rising in volume and Skylar resisted the urger to cover her ears with her hands against the harsh words. "They've shown you how they think of our kind. We need to prepare to fight for our lives against them."
Skylar didn't open her eyes because she knew that she would only see Erik looking at her with a mirror of her own pain and anger. She knew that everything he was saying was true. She knew that the humans would fear them, and some would hate them. She knew he was right. But she knew that there was more to this. "No, no." She shook her head and looked up, squaring her shoulders. "Not all of them."
"What?" Erik asked, scowling.
"Not all of them will hate us, Erik." Skylar said firmly, "It may take a while, but they'll see that we aren't the enemy!"
"They'll never realize that!" Erik shouted at her, "And if they do, how many of us will they have already murdered?!" His hands were shaking with emotion and Skylar was forced to take a step back from how powerful his anger was. The piping and support beams around them were twisting around them and Skylar shot a nervous glance at them. "I should have known you would let Charles convince you that his was the only way. You've been following at his heels like a lost puppy ever since we found you." His voice was deceptively calm as as he sneered at the girl. Skylar's hands balled into fists and she lifted her chin.
"It's not the only way, Erik," she said, "It's the right way."
"Then I can't let you get in my way. I'm sorry, Nyx," Erik raised one hand, palm out, towards her, "But you're too strong to leave in the game if you're not my side."
"Erik, wha-" Skylar didn't get the chance to finish her sentence before a pipe came flying at her head. She threw her hands up and made a shield of energy to protect her head. "Erik, what the hell?!" She had to duck under another piece of metal flying at her. He didn't answer her, and she grit her teeth, gathering her energy. "If that's how it is, then."
Almost as soon as Skylar resolved to fight back, she realized that she was in an awfully equalizing battlefield. No matter what Erik threw at Skylar, she could deflect, and all Skylar had to work with was metal. She might be able to beat him in hand to hand combat, but he wouldn't let her get close enough. She looked for anything to help her and had just decided to lead him out of this room when she felt something wrapped around her right ankle. Before the empath could even look down, the pipe twisted violently to the side and the girl went down with a scream.
Her ankle had snapped. Skylar groaned at the pain, which turned into a shout as the pipe tightened it's hold on her ankle while more trapped her wrists together. She looked up to snark at Erik who stood over her with a sad expression.
"Erik…" the empath breathed. The man's face crumpled for just a moment and Skylar could see all if the pain and sadness.
"I'm sorry." And then pain exploded on the back of her head and her world went dark.
A/N: Holy shit that one was long! I actually had to split this chapter up it was so long. So, there is the first part of the climax, the next part will be out as soon as I can finish it! Was it ok? Awful? Lemme know- Love RGIG
