Ich verspreche Ihnen= I promise you
For several hours, I was engulfed in darkness beyond my ability to comprehend. When I came to, I felt a gentle breeze rustle through autumn leaves scattered about in the background. My eyes fluttered briefly until the strength came to actually open them. My vision was blurry at first; I saw two figures looming over my form.
"She's awake!" Raven's voice flooded with relief.
"Raven...Sean?" My vision had cleared to reveal the bereaved looks on their faces as they crowded around me.
"Whoa, hold still. The paramedic doesn't think you should get up so fast." I was strapped down to a gurney, the doors to the back wide open. In the near distance sat Hank and Alex on a marble bench, his head bent down until he saw me peering around at him.
"I feel okay, sort of. I just have a really big headache." I tried to sit up but the paramedic pressed a firm hand to my chest.
"Miss, you need to get some more fluids in you before I can let you go. Your vitals haven't fully stabilized yet." He adjusted the needle that was attached to my arm to make sure it was properly placed and left us be.
"He's really gone, isn't he?" My eyes turned glassy as a silent tear fell from the corner of Raven's eye, Sean bowed his head solemnly. I would grieve for our fallen teammate in private another time. For now, my determination was set on living in the now because I couldn't let us get down about it.
"I can't let you go yet." Was what the paramedic told me as I begun to unstrap myself, feeling only slightly wobbly.
"You can at least not treat me like a baby and let me sit up. Now, have you two heard news of what's going on?" Hank appeared in front of me to answer.
"The other three will be here shortly. Leah, when I get to a proper lab, I should run another test on you. What happened back there wasn't normal. You were basically in a coma for the rest of the night!" He covertly tried to say to get some privacy from the human that was only a few feet away.
"You can't be serious. That's just great. I can't even protect you guys without being put down for the count..." My mood turned sullen and depressed. I waved them all away back to the bench and sat back to rest my exhausted body even though sleep wouldn't descend on me.
A half hour passed when the paramedic told me my blood pressure had stopped skyrocketing and had leveled. A government issued car rolled up in what remained of the outside driveway. Erik and Charles rushed out to meet us, with Moira dodging the scattered debris that hindered the walkways.
"Raven?" Charles called out to her right before greeting her with a worried hug she openly welcomed. Erik rushed to my side and I found myself in an almost death-like grip as he swore obscenities.
"I am so sorry I wasn't here. It's my fault this happened, that he did this to you." His hands cradled my face while he placed a kiss to my forehead.
"It's not your fault, Erik. The entire headquarters was ambushed. I couldn't control my power, I let it control me." I spoke into his chest as we tightly embraced one another, glad we had found each other again.
"Leah, you went into a coma and he instigated it. I curse myself for not being there to protect you."
"We can't protect the people we love from everything, Erik. It's impossible, I tried." I gave a dry laugh that; I was in one of those depressed moods where you found humor in something just to keep yourself from weeping.
"Next time I will be able to. Ich verspreche Ihnen ." He said with finality, his blue eyes boring down into me, making me not want to protest. I kissed him deeply then grabbed onto him to exit the ambulance to join what remained of our modest group.
"We've made arrangements for you to be taken home immediately." Charles said to all of us, minus myself.
"We're not going home." Sean interjected calmly yet indignantly at the idea of running away.
"What?" Charles didn't grasp then how dedicated these people really were, especially since we had witnessed Darwin's death.
"He's not going back to prison." With shades covering his eyes, he turned to Alex indicating he had no choice but to stay.
"He killed Darwin." Alex spat out the blatant answer.
"All the more reason for you to leave. This is over." Charles stood with his hands in his pockets and part of me had to agree; I didn't want any more harm coming to them, but I couldn't just let things go at the same time.
"Darwin's dead Charles...and we can't even bury him." The smile I had briefly seen before from such a radiant girl, who looked like the sun itself in beauty, was no longer so.
"We can avenge him." After a pause, Erik decided that was the best option in Darwin's memory. He stood with his hands on his hips and a pair of sunglasses on to beat out the glare of the sun rising. This got everyone to look up and ponder the idea.
"Erik..." I did not feel it was their responsibility to hold that weight on their shoulders. It was mine and mine alone and I would carry it with me for the rest of my life.
"Erik, a word, please." Charles walked past him a few feet, away enough from the youngsters but not away from myself to which I could gladly join the conversation.
"They're just kids." Charles said in a hush-hush manner to his equal in concern for them.
"No. They were kids. Shaw has his army, we need ours." He did make a good point but Charles and I were still uncomfortable that they had to do this.
"May I just interject? I was with them when all this happened. Erik, you didn't see how scared they were, how much I was!" I nervously said, despite the fact deep down I knew we could all protect ourselves in our own ways.
"I have faith, you'd do well with some too." That was all Erik had to say to remind me why we started this whole thing in the first place.
"We'll have to train. All of us. Yes?" Charles declared as we turned around to address the group.
"Yeah." Alex was the first to agree.
"Well, we can't stay here. Even if they re-open the department, it's not safe. We've got nowhere to go." Hank said, with uncertainty painted across his face.
"Yes, we do." Charles replied, I knew he was talking about his childhood home he grew up in from what he allowed me to see in past memories.
"Wonderful, I was worried about what we'd be doing since this place has been blown to Hell." Moira finally chimed in. She left the group shortly afterwards to go make the group's travel arrangements.
"So how are you guys back from Russia already?" I asked Erik and Charles, wondering how they were even here.
"Our flight was stalled once we arrived in the United Kingdom, then we received word about this." Erik donned me his brown leather jacket, seeing as I was still only wearing my dirtied cut off red shirt and it had become nippy outside. I had ignored the cold temperature up until now when I felt the goosebumps creep onto my skin.
"We still have time to get there. We have to leave soon though. We're guessing Moira is going to put those three into a hotel for the time being until we come back." Charles left out me so I assumed I was permitted to come this time around.
"I'm up to visit Russia. I've never seen mother Russia in all its glory." That was sarcasm from my end; I had no fondness for the giant country Stalin had run.
"Be ready to bundle up kiddo." Is all Charles had to say to make me shiver at the thought of the brutality that was Russia.
X-x-X-x
The road we traveled on was long and bumpy, jolting my body from time to time. Erk sat next to me in the convoy truck we rode in with Moira and her partner in front, the rest of us in the back. When our plane had stopped to refuel in London, I picked up a black leather jacket that was lined with a faux fur material on the inside and was glad I properly prepared for the dreary weather Russia had to offer this time of year. To match, I sported a black knitted hat I had made myself.
"The weather isn't as bad as I thought it would be." I mused quietly to myself to break the silence Erik and Charles had between us. Breaking them from their thoughts was a soft knock coming from the front drivers compartment. Charles and Erik lifted up a wooden window to show Moira with a worried look on her face.
"We got a problem." Moira's partner, Levene, who also doubled as the driver said over his shoulder.
"What?" Charles asked in confusion.
"I'm so sorry. This wasn't on the map." She said to our chagrin and I realized why when I saw Charles peer up past Moira onto the road. A roadblock was set up a hundred feet ahead, something we weren't prepared for.
"Shit." I nervously said under my breath at the thought of being confronted by Russian soldiers with their own guns.
"It'll be fine, Charles has this." Erik turned to me and patted his hand on top of mine to send soothing support my way at my nervousness.
"No matter what happens, act normally. I'll take care of this, all right?" Charles said to the pair, then brought down the shutter.
"Now, listen to me." He directed his attention to the handful of soldiers that also sat in the truck with us. When we stopped they aimed their rifles at the exit, expecting to be caught.
"Easy, easy. Take it easy, chaps." Charles centered himself with one arm held above to the ceiling and the other placed to his temple to focus, which was directed at a single Russian officer that appeared before us.
I grasped tightly onto Erik's arm, naturally expecting the worse to happen but it never did. Levene and the Russian concluded allowing Charles to relax as Erik gave him an appreciative pat on the leg.
"Good job, friend." I beamed at Charles to which he nodded.
We were on our way again and the rest of the drive was only ten more minutes to the Russian military retreat we set our eyes on. After arriving some distance away from the huge mansion, we found a place just at the top of an incline where we could safely do reconnaissance in the grass. A two person helicopter arrived on time with us, I stole a look up close with binoculars, seeing the person who inhabited it.
"The woman in white."
"Where is Shaw?" Erik and Charles had not been expecting to see her show up in Shaw's place.
"I don't know. But if she's a telepath and I read her, she'll know we're here." Charles said knowingly.
"What is her name? I've seen her in my vision before." I interjected on their thought.
"Emma Frost, Shaw's right hand." Moira gave me my answer easily, she must have encountered her before I assumed.
"Let me try something else." Charles once again put his finger to his temple to focus in on the situation. Out of sheer curiosity of my new found extension of my power, I followed Charles' current memory a mere two seconds behind what he was seeing in real time and saw exactly what he was seeing in his own head.
"What are you doing, Leah?" Erik noticed my deep concentration, I had forgotten to mention to him this little tidbit of information about my new powers.
"Oh, just taking a gander at what Charles is seeing. It's okay, he doesn't mind." With that, he quieted and my vision quickly narrowed down as I closed my eyes to get a better view.
"Shaw sends his apologies but he's indisposed. He asked me to come in his place. And between you and I, honey, I'm a lot better company."Frost said when she reached the Russian general.
"Please, come in." The middle-aged man replied in a flirtatious tone. I came out of my stupor when Erik pulled me from it.
"What took so long? Charles is done." He asked me out of concern, hoping I was okay.
"She can only see what I see if it's already happened, since technically what I just saw ten seconds ago is a mere memory. He's not coming. So, what now, boss?" Charles answered him for me then continued with his own thoughts on the situation.
"Now, nothing. We're here for Shaw. Mission aborted." Moira started to get up in dismissal, not wanting to take any chances. I noticed that simply did not sit well with Erik.
"The hell it is." He quickly tried to clamber up and away from the group but Moira caught him by the arm.
"Erik." She said to him firmly, but I knew she couldn't tame him.
"She's his right-hand woman. That's good enough for me." Erik briskly said. I knew deep down he really had no regard for her thoughts on the manner, even if she was in control of the mission.
"The CIA invading the home of a senior Soviet official. Are you crazy?" Her voice was incredulous in reply to his idea.
"I'm not CIA." He smugly said with the cutest smile on his face that teased me. He quickly got up, but not before giving me a kiss on the cheek and started away from the group.
"Erik!" Charles protested his decision in vain as I saw him run away.
Not even a minute later I saw the checkpoint in front of the mansion start to unravel. Erik used his power to attack the guards standing watch by wrapping the barbed wire around them, tying them up.
"He's gonna start World War III single-handed." Levene observed from the scene unfolding before us.
"We have to do something." She said urgently in reply to him.
"Like what? We're moving out!" Levene started up to Charles' protest.
"That's it, I'm going after him." I had had enough of their squabbling about what to do and figured if anyone was going to do something about Erik, I would. I ran down the hill and could see along the perimeter Erik was running not too far off. He passed one guard, motioning with his hand to drag him off into the grass by the wire.
"Erik, wait!" If he heard my distant voice, he paid no mind to it while he moved past a barrier.
Erik jerked the weapons out from two guards and proceeded through them, kicking one in the face as he ran past. By the time I ran by them, one of them was already coming to and looked like he was making a grab for his gun.
"Nuh-uh." I waggled my finger at them as I let the red current of power sizzle on my fingertip. One of the guards passed out in fright. I finally caught up to Erik just as he made his way into a corridor.
"There you are! Didn't you hear me back there?" I stopped to catch my breath before we were confronted by more soldiers shouting at us.
"Sorry, love. I've got things to do." He motioned both hands in front of him and with a look a sheer fury and determination, he dismantled their rifles and made a gesture to make the men fall. Erik walked by them and even hit one in the head with the gun but before he could continue on, I was confronted by another soldier who snuck up behind and grabbed me hard by the hair.
"Do not move or I will not hesitate to shoot her." The man had a thick Russian accent intact but was surprisingly versed in English.
"Darling, you really shouldn't have said that to him." I laughed confidently, knowing I wasn't in danger even though I saw a bead of sweat on Erik's forehead.
Regardless, he made the slightest gesture with his finger to move the gun away from my temple and that's all I needed. I roughly yanked the hand holding the gun downwards and with the other I landed a punch right to his temple. His knees buckled from loss of balance so I took the opportunity to grab the gun.
"Run along now, sheep." I smirked at him, keeping my eyes on him.
"I'm not afraid of a woman." He had the balls to say to me!
Wordlessly, I responded by firing at him a warning shot.
"You should be." Is all Erik said before the soldier scampered away barely with his life.
I stifled a shudder because of how I reacted to that situation. Being so harsh to people was a foreign concept, even if they deserved it. Whether I was ready or not, Erik continued his quick stroll forward as I stayed behind, knowing Charles was not far off.
"Where is he, Leah?" Charles appeared a couple of minutes later, his face flushed red. I gestured with my head the direction he went and we went to find Erik. Bursting through the door, the scene before us was like a scene out of a bad movie. The general sat on a velvet bed, thinking he was fondling Frost she was sat on the nearest lounge chair, seemingly bored.
"Ugh, pervert." I scowled at seeing the old man that way once I peered over Charles and Erik's shoulders.
"Nice trick." Charles said in her direction. You could tell the illusion disappeared, judging off the man's reaction. He said something angrily our way and looked to see Frost wasn't on the bed, to which she mischievously smiled.
"Go to sleep." Charles quieted the protests of the man and turned his attention on her. Frost stood up in all her wonderful white lingerie and immediately her whole frame crystallized in defense.
"You can stop trying to read my mind, sugar. You're never going to get anything from me when I'm like this." Charles cringed in his focus against her block.
I strolled over to the doors and shut them, making it clear she wasn't going anywhere. The two mutants exchanged looks just before Frost made a run for it by jumping on top of the coffee table that was positioned in the middle of the room. They charged her, taking her back to the ground, shoving her against the foot of the bed. Erik used the brass of the bed frame to hold her back.
"So, then you can just tell us. Where is Shaw?" Erik tightened the hold on her, making sure she was subdued.
"I know who you are honey. He keeps talking about you, ever since you bruised Azazel's ego." She ignored Erik's line of questioning, trying to stall by making idle chat about me for some reason even though it was futile; we had her cornered.
"Ah yes, don't worry I'll be meeting him again. Except he won't be getting whatever he wants from me...but for now you best answer his questions." As I said this, I took my hat off and tousled my hair about casually and then leaned down on one knee in front of her.
When she still refused to answer his question, I turned my face to Erik to let him press on the interrogation. Without having to lift a finger, he moved another brass part of the frame to wrap around her neck this time.
"Erik." Charles said uneasily to him at this tactic. Erik increased the force by the second, I let him although Charles grew increasingly uncomfortable.
"Erik, that's enough." He said again to him, but Erik was too lost in his own objective.
I couldn't tell whether I didn't care enough, or if I was too scared to tell him to stop so I left it to Charles this time. The crystal facets that made up her hardened skin around her neck were starting to crack now and my worry cued in as Charles' breathing nervously quickened at the sight of this sort of violence.
"Erik, that's enough!" The third time did the charm, Erik finally broke from his concentration and let her neck go. Frost broke out of her form and looked up with an irritated look in her eyes.
"All yours. She won't be shifting into diamond form again. And if she does, just give her a gentle tap." Erik said with a gesture of his hand, as he bent down to the nearby table that had a tray of snacks waiting. I took a seat next to him and gave him a worried look over his behavior.
"What?" He innocently asked as Charles crouched down in front of Frost to peer into her mind to find information.
"Oh hush, you know exactly what." I rolled my eyes and then put my attention t waiting for Charles to finish.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" Frost said to him, I could tell it was sadistic. I didn't have to look into Charles' memory to know what he just saw was sickening; it was written across his face.
"This is worse than we previously imagined. We're taking you with us. CIA will want to question you themselves." He looked at Erik first who had a drink in hand and looked concerned himself. Then Charles turned back to Frost.
"Oh, I doubt it. They have bigger things to worry about right now." She insinuated at the picture as a whole.
"Well, I suppose we're done here then?" I was the first to rise up, ready to get out of this wretched place.
"Yes, the Russians won't be happy we were here." Charles said slightly unhappily just as our men came onto the scene to take away Frost.
"Oh, it was nice to finally meet you Ms. Braun. I'm sure we'll be seeing each other sometime." Frost was flanked by our men at all four sides. I looked at her and caught her eye just before she was hustled out in handcuffs and actually looked forward to that day; I felt like there was a lot I could learn from her as a mutant.
"Pay her no mind. Come on, we must be getting back to the states, there isn't much time to dawdle." Charles patted me on the back reassuringly and followed the soldiers out of the room.
"Are you okay?" Erik asked me almost irritatingly at my continued hesitance of the situation.
"I wonder sometimes if these tactics are the right way to go about it. I think back the way I wished to be treated during the war, humane." He got my drift and easily replied.
"We weren't given mercy so we show none for which it is deserved. It's as easy as that." He brought his index finger to my chin to bring me to look at him.
"Maybe...you're right, but I still have some semblance of hope, I have to try to grasp at something." Tears stung my eyes, but I forced them away and decided to leave the conversation at that. I turned my back to him and we walked out of the room without another word.
