Not wasting any more time Darwin threw himself into the water and swam towards the still form a few metres away from him. The body was barely floating just above the wall, a sure sign that Indiana had already inhaled water and that time was of the essence. Darwin scrabbled at the man's wrists, feeling around the cuffs that had been looped around a pipe bracket. With his feet braced against the wall and his hands gripping the small parts of the chain between Indy's hands Darwin heaved with all his might.

It felt like ages before he felt the metal give slightly. Trying harder, Darwin took a breath and morphed into rock, becoming heavier and tougher. The pipes below cracked and released a spume of hot water that threatened to scold them. However as soon as the bracket broke open with the pipes Darwin was shoving off and upwards. He swapped rock for flesh and shot upwards, using one arm to tug himself through the doorway and the other pulling the unconscious man along.

Darwin managed to drag the heavy man up onto his shoulder and then started hurrying back through the submarine. Once he guessed he was above the water level he stopped and gently lowered the man to the corridor floor again. Then he was posed with a problem, as he had to figure out how to empty the man's lungs of water and get him breathing again.

Knowing that the man was technically already dead, trying anything couldn't hurt. So he rolled him onto his back and gingerly pushed down on his chest. Very little water dribbled out of the man's mouth, so Darwin assumed he was empty. But one jab to the chest didn't do anything. So Darwin kept pushing down on it repeatedly, trying to somehow kickstart the heart. As a desperate last ditch attempt he also clamped his mouth over Indiana's and breathed air into the man's lungs too.

Despite the feeling of despair that clung to him Darwin kept on pounding on Indiana's chest and breathing for him, until suddenly his efforts seemed to be rewarded as the body below him convulsed. The man rolled onto his side and curled into the foetal position, coughing up bile and shivering. Darwin sat to one side of the corridor against the wall to give the other man more space, and as he sat there he realised he was shaking from fear and exhilaration. However as he thought about it he didn't personally feel afraid, he'd been feeling panicked before but not afraid.

"Indiana?" he said quietly, and carefully placed one hand on the man's closest shoulder. "It's alright, you're safe."

He hissed as he was assaulted with a stream of images, chaotic and disjointed. There was enough to them for Darwin to realize that Indiana's brain was restarting, and he was reliving the last memories he had. Darwin winced as he saw the moment when Indiana woke up lying in the puddle of water, and felt how he had panicked as the water closed over his head.

"Indiana, you're broadcasting," he murmured, just loud enough for him to be heard above the hum of the still running engines.

Slowly the whirl of images and feelings dropped away and stopped, until Darwin could concentrate on their surroundings again.

"Darwin?" Indiana croaked out in a hoarse voice.

"You don't get rid of us that easy. Havok was chewing our ears off trying to get us to rescue you," Darwin chuckled.

"You saw that?"

"Yeah, sorry we weren't any quicker at getting to you. This submarine is like a maze," Darwin apologized.

"Well you still saved my life, though if we can avoid the kidnapping to start with," Darwin grinned as Indiana started joking again, a sure sign he was recovering. "What's happening now?"

"Shaw is somewhere and Magneto is going after him. Riptide is dead I think, and Emma is too. No idea about Azazel or Angel," Darwin shuddered as he remembered Emma's death.

"Then we better go check," Indiana sluggishly tried to get to his feet, but he was unable to sit straight upright as his bound hands hampered him.

"Hang on, the others have got this fight. We can wait until you're ready," Darwin tried to push him back down onto his back.

"It can't hurt to have back up, and the sooner I get these off the better," Indiana wiggled his wrists at the other mutant.

"Fine, but if Havok has a go at me for not stopping you you better back me up," Darwin groaned and moved to help Jones to his feet.

The two of them headed back up the corridor, Darwin letting Indiana lead and set the pace. He directed the man back to the hole in the hull and they were soon stumbling out into the sunlight. However that short distance seemed to take it out of Indiana and he groaned and sank to his knees in the shade of the ruined hull. He cast a tired eye over their surroundings, noting the damage and death.

Riptide's body lay close to their location, a gaping hole in his chest showing the danger of Havok's power. About ten metres away lay a pile of glass that Darwin knew was Emma's body. Thankfully no other bodies lay nearby which gave them hope that they were not doing badly in the battle. A flash of blue by the jet let them know that Mystique had managed to return to the relative safety of the jet.

"You didn't say we had all crashed," Indiana chuckled as he looked at the carnage of flattened trees and chunks of metal.

"How else would a submarine be on dry land?" Darwin retorted.

"As far as I was aware it wasn't," Jones replied, gesturing to his still soaking clothes.

Their easy joking was interrupted as two more yellow and black clad figures landed heavily on the sand in front of them. Darwin ran forward as one of the two stayed relatively still, whilst Havok jumped to his feet and ran towards the other mutant too. From the distance away he was Indiana wasn't sure but he guessed from the size it was Banshee.

Suddenly Angel appeared from over the ruined jet, firing fireballs at the three stranded in the open. Darwin immediately reacted, turning to stone and covering Banshee so that he wasn't in danger of getting injured. Havok loosely aimed himself in her direction and sent a bolt of energy at their one-time friend. The look of astonishment on his face when he managed to send one blast of energy at her, and that it scored a hit to her wing, was priceless. It easily beat her look of surprise as she fell face first into the sand.

"Knew you just needed to learn how to aim!" Indiana shouted over to him.

"Indy!" Havok cried happily and quickly ran over to him.

Or at least that was what he was planning, but he had barely made it half way when two bodies materialized on top of him and knocked him to the ground. Immediately one of them was gone again, just barely giving Hank time to stand up before his opponent was on him again. Havok scrabbled to his feet and searched for a clear spot to aim his blast at, but Azazel and Hank were too close for him to risk it.

"Can you do something?" Havok turned to him, remembering the last time Indiana had been in a fight with them.

"With pleasure," he gritted out, remembering how the red skinned man had happily watch as he was beaten into unconsciousness.

Hank was just turning to try to land a punch to the teleporters body when Azazel collapsed, clutching his head and screaming in pain. Hank didn't waste any more time and swiftly slammed his foot into the back of Azazel's neck, knocking him out.

'Charles, how we doing?' Indiana sent out hesitantly.

'Nice to hear you in the land of the living,' came back a clear reply.

'Did you see those memories too?' he groaned.

'I'd be surprised if the sailors didn't see them, ' Charles chuckled. 'You've completely lost focus of keeping up your shields. As much as I can I'll maintain your shields for you until we can sit down and build them again.'

'Thanks Charles,' Indiana mentally sighed in relief of having his privacy back. Even if Charles saw his thoughts, it was better than learning the younger mutants knew he was terrified of the upcoming fight. Mentally he shook himself and tried to get them back on track, 'Who's where in this fight?'

'Erik's found Shaw, he was shielded from me somehow.'

'The helmet, and the reactor room was mirror-lined,' Indiana supplied, after quickly forcing himself into Angel's brain. He knew he wasn't gentle, and he didn't care.

'Erik's breaking the mirrors,' Charles realized.

Indiana was forced to pull his attention back to the beach as the other mutants gathered around him.

"How you doing Gramps?" Havok was still grinning.

"I've been knocked out more times than I can count so I have a cracking headache again, Darwin had to revive me after drowning, and my wrists are killing me," Indiana listed. "But I've been worse. Fancy showing off your youthful energy and finding something to get these off me?"

"There's a repair kit in the jet that would do the trick," Hank suggested.

"Where is it Beast? I can dig it out whilst you bring him over," Havok asked.

"Beast?" Indy smiled at the nickname.

"Long story," Beast blushed slightly.

"Love to hear it sometime,"Indiana said but let it go in favour of struggling to his feet.

Havok dashed away to get the tool kit whilst Darwin and Beast hovered around in case their friend needed a hand. Banshee was keeping an eye on Angel, ensuring she didn't get up again. However he was distracted when a sudden scream of pain came from the group of three.

"What's happening?" Darwin shouted in alarm as Indiana curled into a ball, clutching his head.

"Help!" Havok appeared out of the jet. "Something's wrong with the Professor!"

"This one too!" Beast yelled back.

Seven people were forced to watch on helplessly as the two telepaths were left screaming their lungs out at some shared pain. To Beast it seemed to go on for forever until suddenly Indiana stopped.

"Indiana?" Darwin said hesitantly.

There was no reply as the man remained in his tight ball, hands pressed tightly to his eyes and over his forehead as if trying to block out reality. No one dared touch him and a terrified silence descended over the combatants as they stared between the huddled figure and the jet. Eventually the frozen tableau was broken as the Professor staggered out of the ruined jet, Moira, Mystique, and Havok hard on his heels with matching worried expressions.

"What the hell just happened?" Darwin shouted over to the apparently functioning telepath.

"Erik just killed Shaw whilst I was restraining him, I felt the pain and Indiana likely picked it up twice from Shaw and from me," Charles said regretfully.

Havok ignored the horrified chatter that started up and instead quickly moved to the motionless man. As his hands were easily accessible he wasted no time in gently placing the bolt cutters against one cuff and severing it. He hissed in sympathy as he saw the bleeding skin underneath, but didn't hesitate in freeing the other wrist.

"Come on Indiana, or I'll tell the professor that the damage to the navy ships was your fault," Havok joked desperately.

"No way would he believe that, my destruction is way more effective. There wouldn't be a navy left," the muffled reply a short while later had Havok laughing out loud.

"Well it was worth a shot," he replied and gently helped the man to sit upright. "How's the head now?"

"Even worse, thanks for asking," Indiana groaned.

Then the hull of the submarine rent apart at the top, causing everyone to wince in pain. "Can't we get any rest?"

The loud sound had gotten everyone's attention, and they watched in horror as Shaw's body was levitated into the open air, like a horrific puppet. Erik appeared behind him, wearing the familiar helmet. He walked to the edge of the metal lip and then let Shaw's body drop. Indiana was the only one who didn't wince at the sickening cracking sounds that they heard as the body hit unforgiving sand. Erik then gently floated down to the sand, and at first Indy wondered how he had done it. Then he noticed the metal on everyone's outfits, and realized he had manipulated the metal rather than himself. A very quick scan told him that he himself was the only one not wearing metal, and Indiana filed that fact for use later.

"Look, you all insist that Shaw was the enemy, that humans were worth defending and fighting for. But I feel their guns moving in the water, they are preparing to strike at us because they do not understand us. As always, humans fear what they do not understand," Erik shouted to them.

With their attention on the distant ships Angel got to her feet and quickly roused Azazel. Together every mutant, and Moira, stared out as the guns of Soviet and American ships alike turned and aimed at them.

"Tell me I'm wrong," Erik said, almost smugly.

Charles made his trademark motion of putting fingers to his temple. Indiana perked his head up as he felt the other telepath's awareness increase and stretch out beyond the beach. Through the link he could feel the individual thoughts of every naval man out there, rather than just a mass of clamouring voices that Indy was used to.

Although the clarity was a nice change, for once Indiana wished he couldn't hear what they were thinking, as every last man was fixated on eliminating the new threat that had appeared.

Indiana sat there, staring at their impending doom. Charles turned to look at Moira, and for the first time Indiana felt a trickle of fear from him as he shook his head.

Quietly Indiana Jones huffed as he faced impossible odds once again. Sometimes life just didn't give you a break.