Help wasn't coming. Hank had just begun to accept that-the feeling in his gut, the one that meant imminent doom? That was making it rather hard not to accept- when the lights flickered out. He cried out as suddenly the long hallway that had been there seconds before fell into pitch darkness.
Sean and Alex came to an abrupt stop together. Hank skidded to a stop behind him, crying out as he ran into Sean's back. Hank did not remember falling to the ground, but he remembered the thud of his body falling on top of Sean and Alex as the three of them went tumbling to the ground.
"Ouch, dude," Sean groaned from beneath him as the ship tilted back into place. Hank agreed wholeheartedly. There was a cramp in his leg that he was relatively sure Sean had caused by landing on it.
"And-ugh," Alex sneezed from somewhere near his side. "Your fur is sweaty. Get off me, bozo!" He had forgotten about that. He flushed in embarrassment.
"Sorry," he mumbled, pushing himself upright. Sean stood up and gave a good-natured shrug that Hank could barely make out in the dark. Alex was grumbling beneath his breath, but nothing murderous.
"No problem. Man, the lights…" Hank looked up. Those aren't coming back on any time soon; and he could hear the water rushing through the bowels of the ship. It had broken open. The ship was on its way to sinking at any moment now. Hank gulped and placed a protective hand on Sean and Alex's shoulders. He had never had younger siblings before, but he knew one thing. Big brothers always looked out for little brothers.
"We have to change course," he said.
Sean inhaled sharply. "What about Charles?" he asked.
That was a very good question, but nevertheless, Hank was relatively sure that Charles would want him to see Sean and Alex safely away before anything else. Hank shook his head. "I'll go back for him. You two get up to the deck and snag us a lifeboat," because if he knew humans, they would not be considerate enough to save one for the likes of them.
I have a suggestion; that was Charles, in all of their minds. How about all of you get up to the lifeboats, and I'll meet you there? Hank grinned.
Sean grabbed his hand and fairly yanked him along. "I like that plan better. Let's go," Hank nodded and the three of them took off down the halls, blindly.
"Where to, Beastie?" Alex asked before Hank could point out that he was the one with the super-hearing. Hank narrowed his range, searching for the sounds of water and of men. He heard men ahead.
"There's the crowd," he said, unnecessarily, for in the dark they could already hear them. The sounds of people, screaming and outraged cries of soldiers as they filed past, pushing and shoving their way to higher ground. The ship was beginning to tilt backwards. Hank heard the sound of rushing water, and was pretty sure he swallowed his own heart. It was getting closer. The hull of the ship had cracked open all the more and now… Now they were…
"Ah!" Sean screamed, in tandem with everyone else aboard as suddenly a giant wave crashed over the side of the ship, ramming into it with such force that it rocked in a steady ninety-degree angle before perilously righting itself.
Hank hissed as he was thrown against the opposite wall again, landing on his rear with a hard thump next to Sean. Alex landed at their feet, rolled into a protective ball. Hank hissed and snagged both arms, hauling them to their feet again. He had not let go of Sean's arm since they had begun running down the halls, and he did not intend to let go now. He shook his head, trying to clear the headache that was beginning to develop. He had no time for one of those.
"Sean! Hank! Alex! Are you guys there?!" Now what? He wondered irately as soldiers moved past them like blurs of dark shadows, sneering insults even as they ran for their lives. A second later, a dark object stopped in front of them, panting. Hank sniffed.
"Moira!" he cried, relieved to see her alive and well.
"The one and only," Alex said with some cheer. A feminine hand gripped Hank's arm hard enough to bruise.
"Are you three okay?" Moira asked, breathlessly. Hank could not see her, but he knew from her smell that she was damp with water. She had been to the deck already, probably grabbing people before they could be snatched away by the waves, and with that thought came the wandering question of: how could she ever be our enemy? Then, just as quickly, Moira added: "Where's Charles at?" To which Hank shrugged.
"He said he would meet us up there!" Sean yelled over the sounds of panic and fear. "Do you know how to get to the deck any faster?" He asked what Hank had been wondering since Moira arrived. If they just followed the swell of panicked and fearful men they might not make it o the deck alive anyway.
"No, but I know we have to get out of here fast," Moira squinted in the dark at the men. "At this rate, they'll never get out and neither will we!" She shouted. Hank frowned, his mind racing. He could not help but agree, but if there was no other way onto the deck and everyone down here would not make it…
"We have to do something," he growled.
"ASAP preferably," Sean gulped, as Hank felt cold seep between his toes. He shivered. "Does anyone else feel that?" He did. It was water, slowly building at their ankles. The coldness of it sent shivers down Hank's spine. They were sinking faster than he had imagined. If the water kept rising at this rate, he predicted that this entire hallway would be under in about five minutes. Not even half of them men would be on deck before that happened and they certainly wouldn't.
"It's official," Sean moaned. "Were going to die," Alex slapped him briefly upside the head.
"Shut up, man, we aren't going to die," he informed him sternly. Then, Alex turned to him with all the firmness of a seasoned soldier. "Hank? C'mon buddy, you're the crazy genius. Think up something!" he ordered. Hank turned to him as alarm sent another bout of shivers up his spine.
"Me?" He demanded. "What am I supposed to do?"
Alex could have been throwing up his hands or he could have seen the shadow of another person behind him, it was hard to tell in the dark. What Hank did know was that Alex definitely rolled his eyes at him. "I don't know, build something!" He cried.
Now Hank rolled his eyes. "Like what? What machine will keep us afloat and where am I supposed to get something with enough power to be of use…" The sentence fizzled into nonexistence as he realized that indeed he could not just burst through, but someone else could. "Damn it!" he suddenly cried, this being the best substitute for eureka he could think up under the circumstances.
"Hank?" Moira asked, sounding surprised at his profanity.
Hank was too overjoyed to be apologetic. "We're mutants!" he cried happily.
There was a confused silence before Sean sighed. "Hank's lost it," he mumbled.
Hank turned to Alex and gripped his shoulder in a tight grip. "Alex, you have to blow a hole in the ship!" he cried. Alex inhaled sharply.
"Are you crazy? There's already one in the…!" Hank interrupted exasperatedly. Why was it so hard just for people to think?
"Not one going down, you idiot!' he cried. "One going up. You can blow us a hole right to the deck!" he pointed out.
"There are people on the deck, Hank," Moira pointed out, bursting his bubble. "What if we hit one of them? What if a wave crashes over the deck again and sweeps us all away?" Hank shook his head.
"We have no choice," he rebutted. There was a tense silence in which those words were reviewed and echoed throughout the passageway. The water was rising. These men needed some way to get out, and so did they. Indeed, Hank had never hated being right so much as he did then. At length, Moira sighed.
"Alex?" Hank did not see the nod in the dark, but he did hear the way Alex quietly told them to step back, as troubled as he had been the day he had shown them his powers, ashamed and afraid that he might hurt someone. Hank hated that he was forced into the same situation now. He hated that Alex had any reason to be afraid at all, that even if society ever did accept people like them, mutants would never be free of the ultimate fear. Fear of themselves.
No sooner had they backed away that Alex looked up, and in the darkness Hank saw his lips mouth two words to anyone who might get hurt above "I'm sorry," and then, he blasted. The red beam that suddenly illuminated the air also heated the water. Hank yelped as suddenly his feet felt like they were being boiled in water. He heard Moira and Sean do the same, both of them jumping almost out of their skins.
"Get down!" Hank snatched both sets of arms, lamming Moira and Sean against the wall and turning his back to the tons of metal that suddenly rained from the sky. He shielded them; eyes closed and body tensed, waiting for a hit that never came. The metal from the layers of ship above came falling down, splashing the scalding water into faces and unto arms. Screams of pain and fright rang out through the ship; cries that Hank knew would haunt Alex's nightmares for days to come.
After a few minutes, he opened his eyes. Alex was standing where he had been earlier, face upturned to the giant hole that stood as testimony to his power. A flash of lightning illuminated a face sad and resigned to a life of being a very, very, dangerous man. Sean wiggled his way from behind the safety of Hank's arms.
"My turn," he mumbled, and racing past Alex with a firm slap on his back, he extended his wings and screamed. Hank covered his ears as the sound waves carried Sean higher and higher, past the few dozen feet to the deck.
Alex blinked out of his pity-party to stare at him. "Where's he going?" he asked. Hank shrugged and glanced at Moira. She was trying to calm down the disgruntled soldiers that had begun to advance towards them, confused and wary.
"To get help?" he suggested.
Alex snorted and crossed his arms. "Would have been a great help to let us know before he just took off. He's worse than a five-year-old," Hank could not help but chuckle as he surveyed Alex's handiwork. That hole was huge, and above he could see hear the moaning wind and see the bubbling cauldron that had become the sky. Lightning streaked a thin line of white cross it, and the waves stirred the boat again. Hank wondered why he had not gotten sea-sick yet with all this moving. Usually, he was sea sick. It must be the stress, he thought dryly. Best cure for any kind of sickness: life-threatening situations.
"Hey!" That was Sean again, gazing over the hole. His eyes were sparkling in the dire circumstances. He was probably having a ball. "I'll have you know I'm the most mature person you blokes will ever know!" Hank dove out of the way just as a heavy coiling rope was thrown down, added by two and three more. The men cried out in joy as they tugged at the secure anchors, recognizing them as the things needed to escape the ship alive. The water was up to their waists by now.
"Well done, boys!" Moira called delightedly; as Alex laughed and pulled at the rope to make sure it was steady. He jumped on it and began climbing up. Hank stepped out of the way, growling at the man who tried to shove Moira aside. She gave him a sisterly pat on the cheek, with a gentle admonishment not to scare the poor Neanderthals, and began to climb after Alex. Hank chuckled and took hold the rope after her. It did not take long for them to manage their way onto the deck.
Up on deck was a familiar face. Charles looked like a soaked English rat in a wheelchair. His clothes were sticking to a heaving chest and his head drenched in dripping curls but his sapphire eyes were glowing with relief and pride when he saw them, and a great smile had stretched his face.
Hank smiled. "Did you do this?" Charles inquired of Alex as Dr. Fisherman helped haul Moira to safety. He nodded, a bit warily as if he suspected Charles might be angry with him. Instead, the professor extended a hand. Alex stared at it for a brief second before letting out a slightly hysterical laugh and grabbing the offered hand at Charles's elbow.
"You've saved many lives today with your gift, Alex!" Charles shouted over the sound of the wind and the pattering of rain. "I'm proud of you!" Alex smiled and gave a short nod of understanding and thanks. Charles gazed around at the rest of them with fatherly affection in his eyes. "Indeed, I'm proud of all of you! You've proved to be very resourceful!" He continued, almost thoughtfully, as if he were trying to deduce all the trouble the four of them could get up too with their resourcefulness.
"We aren't out of the woods yet," Moira reminded them, pointing to the general mass of men scrambling about deck, jumping and stumbling into the lifeboats hanging precariously over the side before another wave swell could hit. The ship gave a long creaking moan and Hank heard several small snaps come from inside. He did not know what they were, but he knew those snaps were not good.
"She's right!" Dr. Fisherman cried from Charles's elbow. He looked like a thin, long wet rat. "Our boat is on the other side! We must hurry before it's snatched!" Right then, Hank exchanged a look with Charles before grabbing Sean and Alex's elbows. Moira got behind Charles's wheelchair and without words; they followed Michael across the crowded and slippery deck of their dying ship.
Lightning struck the water, creating a giant explosion of scalding rain to add o the already cold droplets striking his back. Alex and Sean hissed as it struck their vulnerable skin like acid. Charles flinched. Moira tensed. Hank had never been so grateful to have a protective layer of thick fur. He glanced at the ocean around them, where the waves had begun to slosh against the ship like it was a child's toy, foaming like a rabid dog.
It wants blood, the thought was crazy, unscientific. Hank could not make himself disbelieve it. If we go under there, he glanced at the churning sea. Just looking at it made his own stomach churn. We're done for. Charles seemed to have the same idea, because he kept glancing over his shoulder at them as if he suspected they might be swept away at any moment now beneath the unreliable surface of their ship.
Finally, Moira skidded to a stop, gasping. Water dripped from around her lips and eyelashes. Her eyes were wide in the dark, making her look like a fish that had been flung from water and now lay flopping and breathless on the beach. Michael pointed at a small lifeboat that had gotten tangled in the ropes meant to keep it at the ship's side, hanging limply. It had probably been deemed to unsafe by the humans, which was the reason it was abandoned. Hank gulped. The small thing looked as if any weight inside of it would make them all plummet to the foaming ocean's jaws, and how were they supposed to get Charles's wheelchair in there?
The telepath seemed to agree. He looked up at Moira, and they had a silent conversation, either through minds or eyes Hank could not tell. Finally, Charles turned to Sean. "You should go first," he told him. "If it does collapse, then you can fly out of there," Sean nodded and looked over the side of the ship, at the lifeboat dangling by a few unsteady ropes a few feet below, and the waves thundering and hungry even lower than that.
Sean smirked, like Hank imagined Peter Pan might have, and catapulted over the side of the ship with a whoop. The others all raced to the edge of the railing, peering over. Sean had landed safely inside of the boat. He stood still, eyes locked on the ground beneath him as the lifeboat swayed. After a long second, he looked up and grinned, waving a thumbs up. "We're good to…"
"Sean, get down!" The horrified scream came from Moira, causing Hank to swivel around in time to scream as a giant wall of wetness and bluish froth came hurtling towards them from the other side of the boat.
He only had time to grab Alex and Moira before he heard Charles yell "Hang unto me!" and Alex grabbed Charles's wheelchair as they were swept against the railing with a loud clang. Water rushed over Hank's head, sucking at his fur and trying to steal the breath from his lungs. He ducked his head away instinctively, fighting down panic. The ocean swept past him, soaking his entire body.
After an eternity, he felt cold and electrified air hit his face and he inhaled deeply. The air had never tasted sweeter. He gasped, eyes swiveling to take in Charles, Moira, Alex and Dr. Fisherman, curled against the railing as they gasped for breaths, knuckles white with how tightly they held unto the only metal still standing.
Charles nearly fell over into the water when he dove at the railing, eyes scanning the lifeboat below. "Sean?!" He bellowed desperately. Hank's heart nearly stopped when only the wind replied. Then- a choking noise.
"I'm okay!" Sean called back up. Charles's shoulders relaxed an inch, and Hank saw him close his eyes in relief. He seemed to have aged ten years in that frightful moment of unknowing, and Hank became conscious for perhaps the first time, just how very much Charles cared for them. One would think he had almost lost a brother by the stress lining his face when that wave had broken over. He truly did care for them, perhaps just as much as he had for Raven and in a shorter amount of time. Hank felt a lump in his throat as the vow he had given Charles renewed itself in his heart.
I will give you back your legs, Charles. If it's the last thing I do.
The telepath suddenly looked up, as if someone had called his name. His eyes met Hank's, and the two of them exchanged a small smile. Hank did not know how much of that Charles had heard, but whatever it was, it was enough to guarantee that Charles's eyes glitter with gratitude- and maybe something like hope.
Getting into the boat was easier than Charles had expected it to be. For him, at any rate.
He was not unhappy to leave the confines of his wheelchair. Sitting in wetness, he had learned for the past ten minutes, was as uncomfortable as sitting on thorns, and he had a brief recollection that perhaps this was why eventually humans had to learn to leave the diaper. If he had to spend his entire life like this, then he might very well go mad.
He felt half mad already.
Moira had been the second one to jump into the boat after Sean, her being eh least heaviest of them all. Then the two of them had scrambled to unknot and untangle the ropes binding their boat as it swayed ominously, quite like a pendulum in a clock might above the crashing waves. "We have to lower it gradually," Hank told Alex as the other mutants prepared to jump.
"A lever/pulley system?" Michael suggested thoughtfully. Hank nodded, his brow scrunched.
"It will take all of us to control it, more than likely," he said. "If we just let the boat drop into the water, we'll be pulled under, and with the ship sinking, the suction would drown us for sure, good swimmers or not," he glanced at the deck, now half submerged in water. The other life boats had either been lowered into the water or were still struggling too in vain. Already five of them had capsized, their sailors flailing and screaming in the Atlantic.
Charles struggled to block out the panic and fear he felt emanating from them. It took every fiber of his being not to jump into the water after them- as he had done with Erik. The only difference between the two situations was that now he was responsible for more than just himself and besides, he couldn't swim even if he wanted too.
"Sean, Moira! Try to wrap four ropes around the boat. Make a lever/pulley system!" Hank called.
"A what?" Sean demanded, confusedly. Moira jumped to action though.
"I'll show him!" She assured Hank.
The blue man nodded and turned to Alex. "Go," he told him. "I'll get Charles, and come after you," Alex nodded and jumped unto the railing, and down. Charles held his breath until he heard a slight thump that he knew meant Alex had landed safely inside of the boat. Hank turned around, his deep eyes soft. Charles smiled at him, tiredly. He had heard Hank's passionate vow, and he was still grateful for it.
"Ready, professor?" Hank asked, cringing when another bolt of lightning streaked across the sky. Charles nodded, though his pride balked when Hank wrapped arms beneath his knees and around his back, carrying him like one would a small and delicate child. "What about you?" Hank asked Michael, who waved him off.
"Don't worry, I'll jump as soon as you two are safe," Charles frowned worriedly.
"Hurry," he told his friend, glancing at the remaining deck left. "We only have so long," Michael nodded with a warm smile. Charles glanced at Hank and nodded, nervously. Hank gave a small half-shrug that obviously meant 'we have no other choice,' before jumping over. Charles felt his stomach dive as they went sailing in a swift and completely vertical drop.
Hank landed with a slight grunt. The lifeboat creaked and swayed, making the others gasp and hiss as they hung unto the ropes that they had compiled into a lever pulley system from the ship. Alex and Sean held unto the rope attached to the front of the lifeboat, both of them straining even more now that Hank was aboard.
Moira was in the corner to Charles's right and the one in the middle was left hanging open, so far the three of them balancing the lifeboat in mid-air, slowly easing the lifeboat down. Hank set Charles down gently at the side of the boat before jumping at the spare rope to his left, gripping it tightly. The boat stopped swinging.
Charles looked up. "Michael!" He shouted. "Come!" Michael nodded and did as he said, hopping from the top of the railing towards their small escape capsule.
Luck, however, was not on their side.
Just as Michael jumped, Sean lost his rip on the rope. Alex gasped as suddenly half of the boats weight was transferred to him. He cried out as the rope started to slip between his fingers. The lifeboat took a steep dip towards the unforgiving waters, tilting at an irregular angle that made Charles slightly sick.
And also prevented Michael from landing where he had meant. Instead the doctor fell right past the lifeboats; eyes wide and mouth open in silent scream. "Michael!" Charles-again- did not remember moving, but suddenly he had hauled his torso up so that the edge of the boat dug into his stomach and managed to snag Michael's large hand in his own, the other man dangling just about three feet from the frothing waves.
Hank's words echoed in Charles's mind. "If we just let the boat drop into the water, we'll be pulled under, and with the ship sinking, the suction would drown us for sure, good swimmers or not," if he let go of Michael's hand, he would die.
"Wow!" Moira cried as Alex and Sean grabbed hold of the rope again, before it could slip away and they all dangled out like Michael.
"Quick! Moira, lower your side and I'll lower mine! We'll get her balanced and then lower ourselves down!" Hank yelled.
"Roger that Captain Beast!" Sean yelled as the five of them got to it. Charles smiled at Michael's uneasy face, trying to look reassuring when his own heart was racing.
"Hello there," was all he could think to say, being the intelligent college graduate that he was. Perhaps Erik is right, he thought. Mayhap I am an idiot. But Michael chuckled softly.
"Hi Charles," he replied, very cheerfully for a man who had nearly fallen to his death a moment ago. "Could you pull me up now?" Charles nodded and grabbed unto Michael's other hand with his left.
"Alright, Michael, I'm going to pull you up on the count of three," goodness knew he was not strong enough to pull him up right now, and certainly not five minutes from now. His body was still recovering. Charles was frankly surprised he was able to keep holding unto Michael at all. "One… Two…"
"HELP ME!" Charles gasped as suddenly a new presence- filled with so much feral terror and unthinking panic that it barely resembled a human being's- suddenly erupted from the water like a shark collecting dangling prey. As if he were a raving lunatic, the sailor fairly flew out of the water and latched onto Michael's leg, eyes wide with dread.
"Please!" The man wailed, trying to scramble up Michael's leg to avoid being taken by the ocean. "Don't let me drown!" Michael hissed through clenched teeth. Charles imagined the man's nails were digging into his leg.
"Damn you, man! Let me go!" Michael yelled.
"Hey!" Hank bellowed. Charles could feel their sudden alarm as well. The extra weight was making it harder to hold the boat steady. Charles growled deep in his throat. "What's going on down there?" he cried.
"We have a visitor who doesn't fancy drowning!" Charles replied over his shoulder, as he strained to pull Michael and this mysterious lunatic aboard.
"Well, he can join the club!" Sean shouted furiously, him and Alex desperately hanging onto their rope.
"We can't hold on!" Alex grunted, fearfully.
"Get him off, Charles!" Moira ordered.
Charles desperately tugged at Michael's hand, but it was futile. He couldn't haul both him and the new man up, not when he was so weak, couldn't use his legs for leverage and they were all wet. Not to mention the boat was still unbalanced. Gravity was working against them.
But if I let them go… The man's frantic cries for help wrung his heart. He couldn't just let them die.
"Charles!" There was a frenzied entreaty in that voice. He glanced at Moira, and in her eyes saw what she wanted. "You have to let them go!" She shouted. Charles felt tears sting his eyes.
I can't, he sent to her desperately. They'll drown. Mora's eyes were hard, uncompromising, but also apologetic. She knew what a toll killing them would have on him. She knew how much it would tear at him.
"If you don't, we'll all drown!" She reminded him.
"Charles," that was Michael, speaking quietly, over the panicked man's screaming. Charles looked down and met eyes that had seen dozens of recoveries and also dozens of deaths.
And he had accepted his own, honorably.
"It's alright," Michaels hand loosened. Charles tightened his grip. "Let me go, Charles."
No.
He would never forgive himself. It occurred to Charles that he could use his telepathy to get rid of the second man; he could still try and save Michael. But could I do that either? His heart ached as more shouts were added to Moira and Michaels, commanding-begging-him to let go.
To save them all at the cost of his soul, and then one voice saying the opposite, animalistic in his frenzy to live, a frenzy that Charles himself had felt before. He knew what it was to cling unto life-to will survival even if it meant another may not breathe again. He had grown up with an abusive father, after all.
He knew that desperation but he also knew himself and he knew that this world was cruel. He had people who depended on him. A race that would need him. A new family to protect.
He needed to live.
Even if others should die.
Which is why he let go, with a shuddering breath of remorse. However, he had once again underestimated the cunning of the fates, and as such he gasped when he felt the sturdiness of solid boat suddenly vanish. He had predicted that Michael and the sailor would fall to their deaths…But he had not been prepared for their momentum-and a sudden jostle of the boat- to carry him with them.
He fell.