I do not own X-Men Apocalypse.
But I'm giving this a whirl.
X-Men: Age of WTF
Prison Break
I keep losing time.
He was on the floor.
With a migraine, a sore shoulder.
And a vague recollection of a helicopter and soldiers.
A relieved Moira.
And a man he should know . . .
You were with Trask.
. . . from the previous Erik's-involved-in-some-bad-shit adventure.
And a sonic blast . . .
Banshee?
. . . right before everything went black.
And now . . .
Why am I in an octogonal cylinder of green light?
With Moira. Peter.
And Raven as Raven.
And himself as . . .
Hey, Raven, I'm blue again. Happy now?
. . . apparently not someone . . .
"Whoa! What's wrong with you?! Is that going to happen to all of us?"
. . . to wake up next to.
"No, I just . . ."
Chill out, Peter. And good job with the retrograde amnesia there, Charles. Jeez, it's like Logan the Wolverine all over again.
". . . left my meds at the house."
Wasn't expecting to be attacked and kidnapped today. Silly me.
Stryker . . .
Oh good, he's a colonel now. Even more authority to kill us. Great.
. . . above them, menacing and powerful.
Raven did her thing.
Talked big.
Moira did her thing.
Played the CIA card.
And Stryker did his thing.
Made impossible ultimatums.
And left.
Because he, unlike them, was not trapped by an electrical cage of death.
But past that, Hank just had one overriding question.
"Um, Moira . . ."
Chuck never tells me anything.
Oh man. We are so screwed.
So according to Moira, the big blue guy was some super mutant that was planning to take over the world.
How does that differ from Erik?
Because Erik was his pawn. And this guy was the first, the most powerful, drawing his powers from other mutants.
Like an ability sucking mutant Dracula.
Oh. We really are screwed.
Which didn't seem nearly as important to Peter as . . .
"You know him? Magneto?"
Oh yay. This story again.
"I used to. Not so sure anymore."
Understatement of the year.
"What was he like? Was he like they said he was? The bad guy?"
Oh yes, please tell Peter all about it, Raven.
"No. I mean, yes . . ."
Complicated, isn't it?
And then, because he was apparently annoying her with his questions and didn't wouldn't be shooed away like a fly . . .
"Why do you care so much? See his speech on TV or something?"
Oh no, Raven, he's not just a fan . . .
"He's my father."
Yep, Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker all over again. You know, Star Wars?
Apparently she did not.
"What?!"
What, you didn't think you were Erik's one and only true love, did you?
But Peter could always be counted on.
"See, he and my mom, they-"
Hank tuned out the no doubt riveting conversation, unable to take anymore gentle sobbing over the long lost Erik who always seemed to cause trouble no matter where he went.
And tried to inspect their entrapment for weaknesses.
Though he already knew Stryker would have left none.
He didn't get very far.
Hear me, inhabitants of this world . . .
Charles? What the hell?
". . . this is message to every man, woman, and mutant . . .
Oh this is bad.
Reckoning . . .
Fall of man . . .
Rise of mutants . . .
This is very, very bad.
. . . to . . .
Reign supreme, yes, we know.
. . . protect those without."
?!
Charles.
He was still fighting the good fight, still defying.
Still believing.
Oh boy, I bet that pissed the En Sabah What's-His-Name off.
It sure did Stryker.
Storming back.
Demanding to know where Charles was.
But of course they still . . .
"Don't know, bro!"
. . . couldn't tell him.
And they were still stuck.
And then the emergency alarms and lights went crazy.
And Hank McCoy saw the first real flash of fear flash through Stryker's eyes.
Scattered gunfire and terrified screams added to the growing fray.
And from the security screens . . .
Pretty dumb to position them in view of the prisoners . . .
. . . Hank caught a glimpse of . . .
Logan?
. . . a brutal, merciless, feral hacking and slashing his way through hallway full of guards.
As the screams started dying away, Hank noticed a slower moving shadow a floor above them.
And as it stepped into the light, they all beheld . . .
Kurt?
Who after a brief game of charades, turned on the intercom.
Told them to get away from the door.
Attempted to count to three.
And Scott Summers blew the door right off the hinges.
And that's how they escaped their electric cage of death . . .
"Ah, jeez!"
"Sorry!"
. . . without much further issue.
It wasn't his Blackbird.
But it was beautiful.
"Hey, Hank, think you can fly this thing?"
Woman, please.
But he was cool. He was okay. Finally in his element.
"Yeah, I think I can figure it out."
And Scott had found . . .
"Hey, guys. Flight suits."
Well, that's just serendipitous right there. Never gonna fit my feet though.
Raven seemed gunho.
"You got your warplane . . ."
I didn't ask for a warplane. When did I ask for a warplane? Oh, right.
". . . let's go to war."
Okay. Gonna suit up, then? No? Come on, 'mutant and proud'. No? Now who's the party pooper?
So they went.
"Were you scared that day in D.C.?"
Moira was copiloting the plane so Hank had time to be a secondary unit.
And hear Jean Grey's tentative attempt to reach out to her superior.
"No."
Which didn't get very far.
Way to connect there, Raven. She's just looking for some reassurance from her idol.
Silence reigned for a moment, in which Raven apparently used to dig down inside herself and find a part of her that could still afford to give a damn about others.
"But I was on my first mission."
Ah, yes, the Sebastian Shaw Experience.
I showed up blue and ashamed.
You showed up smelling like Erik.
"I was about your age."
Hang on. Eight years old when you met Charles in 1945. Fast forward to 1962. What kind of math are you using here . . .
"Your brother was there," Raven offered to Scott. "We used to call him Havoc . . ."
Yeah, I called him Ring of Fire in my head. I hated him back then.
But I still wouldn't let him die if I could help it. Not then. Not now.
And curious Kurt's turn.
"What happened to the other kids who were with you?"
Sean disappeared eventually.
Angel ran off with Erik.
Just like you, Raven.
"Hank and I are the only ones left. I couldn't save them."
For the first time in a long time, Hank heard emotion in his fellow mutant's voice.
Just a touch.
But it was there.
Regret. Remorse.
"I told you. I'm not a hero."
But they, the new fledgling X-Men, would not be deterred.
"You're a hero to us."
And Hank listened to them pour out their hearts.
Lift her up.
When she had never asked for it at all.
He wasn't sure she deserved it.
But he knew they were good enough to give it.
And he was glad.
Whether she wanted to be or not, Raven was the poster child for the mutants.
The one they thought of synonymously with 'hero'.
She stood for all of them.
Beautiful. Powerful. In control. In charge.
She was the one they wanted to be like.
She was the one they admired.
And there was nothing she could do about it.
Welcome, Raven Darkholme, Mystique, whatever. 'This is your life'.
Thanks to brigid1318 and Muggleborn92, you're so kind to review this everyday! :)