Chapter 10: An Almost Forgotten Past

Erik had always wanted an underground hideout. After he had left Xavier's Mansion he needed somewhere to stay, somewhere he could operate from. He and Mystique had found an abandoned warehouse that was scheduled to be totalled. Erik had used his abilities to build an underground facility under the warehouse; he had constructed the entire base out of metal and created two entrances. When he brought Façade and Divine to the lair they had occupied one of the larger sections of the base claiming it as their personal quarters.

Now with the initiation of Toad into the Brotherhood Erik was coming to the conclusion that his once favourite sanctuary was too small to house his Brotherhood. There was enough space to include Toad but if his brotherhood was to expand in the way he dreamed of then he needed more space. He had one idea.
"You aren't serious," Mystique said after hearing out Erik's idea.
"You must consider it." Erik said, he sat in his private study. A basic room made entirely of scrap metals. The metals were twisted unnaturally to form chairs, a table and even the walls. Mystique sat on the other side of the silver table, opposite Erik.
If we are going to grow in the way that I envision then we are going to need space, lots of it. Where else can we go where we will have a place to stay, a facility to stay and gain extra members." Erik reasoned. "You know Scott and Jean have potential to be powerful mutants, and those newer students show potential as well. You saw them!"
"I'm not disputing that they're not good, nor am I denying that the Mansion is the best place to base our operations, but do you actually think that Saint Charles will let you turn his mutant sanctuary into the Headquarters of a war faction." Mystique formed air quotes when she said 'mutant sanctuary'.
"I'm certain that if we reason with him he will understand."
"Who will understand what?" Divine asked strolling into the room.
"Divine what part of Private room do you not understand." he asked fuming.
"The 'private' part." she retorted. "So are you going to tell me what you were talking about?" she walked to the wall adjacent to Mystique's seat and leaned on it.
"We were discussing ideas on a new location for our base." Erik said. "This place is too small. If the Brotherhood is going to expand the way we want it to then we will need to relocate,"
"Preferably to a bigger place." Divine said.
"Yes Captain Obvious." Mystique said.
"So where were you thinking we should go?" Divine asked.
"We were considering relocating to the house of an old friend."
"An old friend?"
"Didn't realise that you one of your powers was repeating everything you heard. I mean you sound like a parrot."
Divine sent an icy glare Mystique's way but otherwise ignored her.
"The mutants we ran into when we recruited Toad. They happen to be some of his students."
"So who is this guy?"
"Charles Xavier." Erik answered.
"Xavier!" Divine said, "the professor of…what was it? Mutagenic or was it genealogy?"
"You know of him?" Mystique asked.
"Yes, I heard about his work. I didn't know he was a mutant."
"He happens to be the most powerful telepath the world has ever or will ever know."
"And we need to get on his good side." Mystique added. "This means that we don't want you to meet him until you have to."
Divine began to protest but was cut off by Erik, "I agree with Mystique. I think it is best that Charles does not get to know your more charming qualities." Erik gave a smile showing off his teeth.
"How did you come to meet a do-gooder, like Professor Xavier anyway?" Divine asked taking a seat. Erik was momentarily surprised that Divine did not argue further. He thought she was more akin to Mystique arguing her way to do anything she wanted and when rejected coming along anyway. Maybe she would just follow them when they left. He would have to ask Mystique to keep an eye out for her.
"I met him many years ago, during the second world war."

"I can't believe you saw Erik." Forge said dumbfounded. He, Jean, Scott, Ororo and Hank sat in the lounge. The professor was down in Cerebro trying to locate Erik or Raven. "We saw him alright but, like we said, he's not the same man." Jean answered. "He ordered the death of all those people without even flinching."
"Erik has always been military minded and sadly killing has always been a part of his beliefs."
"Well he was able to keep that from us for a long time." Scott said.
"It was because Charles told him to." Forge said, "He never wanted Erik influencing you for the worst the way he got to Raven. After a few days of speaking to her he had convinced Raven to not only adopt his beliefs but to fight for them."
"It would seem that Charles had a strong influence on him if he was able to get him to keep this side of him secret." Ororo said.
"You're right in saying that. Charles has always been and will always be Erik's friend and equal."
"How did Charles come to know somebody as militant as Erik? I mean Charles has always been peace-minded why would he make a friend in someone so opposed to his beliefs." Hank asked.
Always the observant one Forge thought, "It is widely known that opposites attract Hank, but just how Charles met Erik is a mystery to me. When I first met Charles he and Erik were already friends."
"I met him in during the war." The voice came from behind causing the entire room to turn. When they did they saw Charles perched on his wheelchair at the door.
"I am afraid I haven't been able to locate Erik or Raven something is interfering with the psychic connection, It is blocking my mind." Charles wheeled in, "Now as I said before, I met Erik during the Second World War."
"They called the First World War the Great War but they were wrong. This war was almost double the length of the First World War and sadly triple the amount of people died in this war then the first at least that was what it felt like.
"I didn't join the war until 1941 but the few years I experienced it left me scarred. However the war had done more to Erik then it had done to me."

"You see I had just escaped from Nazi encampment with the aid of my newly manifested abilities. As you can guess my abilities made me quite popular with the Nazi scientists at the encampment and I was constantly experimented on. It was the hate that I had for them that fuelled my powers. And out of all of them Dr. Schmidt was the worst one. Dr. Konrad Schmidt his name will forever be etched into my memory.
"He pretended to care for me; he dried my tears and told me that although my family was gone I could make a new family with him and his wife and children. He told me that he was planning on escaping with me, that he was as much a prisoner as I." Erik's voice took on a somber tone Mystique recognized. He was angry and he was controlling it by becoming detached with his past he was an onlooker a spectator rather than the traumatized boy that had lived through this pain.
"It was all lies!" Erik's somber tone disappeared as his rage at past ghosts got the better of him. Mystique considered getting him to stop, after all he didn't need to tell us how he met him but Mystique herself had never heard this tale. She had been puzzled by the unlikely friendship that Erik and Charles shared and was interested to know what had started it. So she stayed silent and watched Erik overcome his anger.
"He was testing me. He wanted to know the extent of my abilities and he wanted to know how well I could control it. So he staged an escape attempt. He came to my cell at midnight like we had planned and told the guards that he was taking me for another experiment. Instead of going to the lab we went down a dark corridor that I had never been in before. I remember thinking that it was cold and dark, but I showed no fear. I stayed silent following him through the hallways
"We reached an old metal door. Schmidt told me it was locked and that if we wanted to get out he would need my help, so I obliged. At that time using my powers always took concentration and I was left exhausted afterwards, but on that day in that situation about to escape my prison I had a burst of adrenaline. I pulled the door from its hinges hearing the loud noise I made but I wasn't afraid anymore and I didn't care who heard me. I was ready to take down a whole army of the Nazi's at that moment.
"The door led outside to a part of the base that I had never seen before. It was where they killed the Jews. The gassing chambers and the furnace that burned the dead bodies stood there proud surrounded by several Nazi guards. That was when Schmidt's plans failed. He hadn't counted on me being as angry as I was. I ran straight at the guards and attacked."
"What did Schmidt do?" façade asked. At this point both Toad and Façade had heard bits of the story and interest had forced them to join Divine and Mystique in Erik's planning room. In actual fact they had been eavesdropping outside but when Erik's voice became hard to hear they had risked walking in.
"At first he stared shocked as I killed the guards; deflecting their bullets back at them, stabbing them with their own bayonets, crushing their helmets, doing whatever I could do to stop them. Then he realised he could not continue the pretence and called for assistance. One of them got me with a tranquiliser dart and I was knocked unconscious.
"I woke up on the table in a lab, Schmidt looking down at me. I would have strangled him then and there but they had me restrained. It kept me stationary just until Schmidt told me of his hand in all of this, then the anger could not be controlled. My full potential was released then and I attacked him with an invisible force. It struck him with such power it splattered him onto a wall I had never demonstrated that power since then and have never, I hope one day I will. I killed Schmidt freed myself and ran.
"I was able to make it out of the camp and after days of wandering, shivering and starving I ran into a group of American soldiers. They took me in and fed me. One of the soldiers that made the biggest impact on my life was Charles Xavier."

"I was barely seventeen so I was tasked with looking after him and making sure he was well. They briefed him and he told them about the camp he had escaped from and the people that were there. What surprised the soldiers about his story was how he had managed to escape in the first place. It baffled me too until I learned he was a mutant like myself."
"How did you learn that?" Hank asked.
"Believe it or not it was two years after that incident when the allies were getting stronger and believed to be having the upper side of the war. Erik and I had become close friends we discussed emotional topics like what we had lost in the war, he had lost his family and I had lost the love of a great woman; he had joined the army as a medical assistant you see. Truth was he only knew the basics of first aid but his flair for getting bullets out of bodies earned him his job.
"We were in France, Erik and I had left our troop to meet a French emissary when we returned we saw German soldiers attack the soldiers. They killed the ones that resisted and captured the rest. We never once said anything to each other but we followed the Nazis. Whenever we lost their track I would use my powers and I'd just know which path to take and we'd be right behind them. When they finally stopped Erik charged. The guns of the soldiers would lift in the air and bullets would shoot out. That was the first time we realised we were mutants and our bond strengthened all the more for it."
"How about when you were in Africa where was Erik?" Ororo asked.
"He was in Africa as well he just did not wander far from the hotel he stayed in."
"What about when we met?" Hank asked
"Erik and I had started to discuss mutant politics when I met you. We had had an argument we were both trying to cool down."

"It seems you and Charles have been through a lot." Divine stated. "I understand your respect for him."

"Charles is more than my equal he is a friend. That is why I believe he will not reject me." Erik said, "Now leave all of you. You have made me remember a past I had forgotten."
"Almost forgotten," Mystique corrected.