Author's Note: Well, hello there. :)
Welcome to Chapter 24, in which we drop Sean out a window, Caroline and Alex flirt and be adorable, Erik attempts to piss off Katie with mixed results, and Miranda just watches and enjoys.
Only about a day after the last update, too! :D And Chapter 25 is written, so the more reviews I get and the more quickly I get them, the sooner Chapter 25 comes out, which includes a very sweet Erik/Miranda scene for those who have been missing them. But thanks to my lovely reviewers who really stepped up and got me six reviews in like twenty-four hours. You six are the reason that this chapter is up and written so quickly.
As always, I don't own First Class. I own Daniel, Katie, Miranda, and Caroline. Katie is my favorite at the moment thanks to a certain scene below, but Miranda is my favorite next chapter. :) But I love them all. Please don't steal them without my permission.
Oh, and I have another reason for you guys to review. In my opinion, Daniel is awesome next chapter. You all want to see Daniel be awesome, right? Well, then review, and see him be awesome and fight back against Shaw! Reviews go to helping Daniel do that! Oh, and for Miranda/Erik fluff. But you guys would get that anyway.
Enjoy, please review, and thanks for reading, loves.
Chapter 24
Turning Tables
Erik glared at her. "You haven't even heard my plan yet." "I don't need to. It involves boats and a sociopathic doctor. It won't end well." With a partner in his vendetta against Shaw, Erik Lensherr thought things would change. He was right. Erik/OC
Westchester, New York
1962
Despite the television being on in one side of the room, no one was paying attention to it. The six younger mutants were all lounging around, exhausted and frustrated by the day's events. Alex and Caroline shared one of the couches, while Sean had taken up residence on the ground in front of it, his back leaning against the couch. Katie also sat on the floor, directly in front of the second couch. Raven sat behind her, messing with Katie's hair, while Hank had said something about working on Sean's wings, much to the horror of Sean and the absolute amusement of Katie.
The five were all dressed in the sweats that Charles had handed out earlier, saying that it was easier for them to train in these outfits than their normal ones. Katie's hair was out of its earlier ponytail, while Caroline and Raven's still remained in theirs.
"So it didn't go so well today?" Raven asked, glancing at each of the younger teens in turn.
Alex snorted, running a hand through his blond hair. "I set the entire bunker on fire. I don't exactly count that as a success."
"Better than mine," Katie admitted, scowling at herself. She was playing with her locket. The blonde had explained earlier that the locket was her mother's, who had given it to her to wear when she had gone with Erik, Charles, Sean, and Miranda. "It ended up with Erik and me yelling at each other and getting nothing done."
"Miranda threw rubber balls at me for an hour and the only thing I got out of it are a bunch of circle bruises on my arms," Caroline reported, pointing to a series of bruises on both arms.
"They're throwing me out a window." Sean scowled and then glared at Katie. "Some friends I have here. I don't like heights! Why do they think I can fly?!"
"Because you're special, Sean," Alex said in a deadpan voice, smirking despite his exhaustion.
"We're all special, remember?" Caroline asked, shooting Alex a tired smile.
Katie leaned against Raven's legs and hesitated before admitting, "After I got my powers, I wanted nothing more for them to be gone." She started to play with a small locket she had on, watching the floor as the others watched her. "I was so scared, and I felt like a freak… I just wanted them gone."
"Katie…" Sean murmured, shooting her a sympathetic look.
Raven bit her lip. "You're not the only one," she admitted. She took a deep breath before simply saying, "Watch."
Everyone turned to the oldest mutant present. Raven shifted uncomfortably of the gaze of the others, and then closed her eyes. A moment later, the gorgeous blond disappeared, replaced by a blue-skinned, red-headed form that held an exotic beauty of its own. Raven held back a wince at the looks of surprise on their faces.
"This is what I really look like," Raven simply said, surprised at the fact that none of them had moved. They were all surprised, but none of them looked horrified or disgusted, much to her absolute relief.
"Why do you hide it?" Caroline asked gently, her face sympathetic.
Raven smiled dryly. "To avoid causing mass public hysteria?" she asked dryly, Caroline's question hitting home in more ways than one.
"I mean around us," Caroline corrected gently. She gestured around towards the others. "I mean, you don't have to hide it around us. We're all in this together, as cliché as that sounds. We don't have to hide it."
Raven chuckled. "I'm taking baby steps," she promised, shifting back to her blonde form. As Katie shot her a look, Raven held her hands. "Look, I've been hiding my whole life. I'm tired of it, but… I can't just stay on one radical side for years then go to the other no problem. Baby steps."
"I think that's what we all need to do," Caroline admitted. As Alex shot her a puzzled look, Caroline gave a shrug. "I mean, we all came here and expect to be awesome right away. That's not gonna happen. Baby steps. We'll get there; we just need to be patient."
Alex gestured towards her. "Words of wisdom. And yet, she's the quiet one."
Caroline shot him a teasing smile. "It's always the quiet ones, remember?" He shot her a genuine smile, and Raven smirked as the faintest pink blush crossed Caroline's cheeks.
"I thought that only applied when the quiet one goes crazy and kills everyone," Sean pointed out, frowning as he shot a wary look at Caroline.
"If you're going to go crazy and kill everyone, go after Sean first," Raven requested, smirking as Sean shot her a mock hurt look.
Caroline rolled her eyes.
"Alright, Hank, you have to beat him. Because if you don't, we'll never hear the end of it."
As he stood at the starting line of the makeshift racecourse they had set up, Hank chuckled and smiled down at Raven. "Glad to hear about your priorities, Raven." He glanced down at his bare feet, and at the pebbles that littered the path that surrounded the mansion.
The blond giggled. "I want you to win against my own brother, don't I?" she asked, cocking her head and running a hand through her loose blond locks. Earlier this morning, she had gone down to breakfast in her natural form, while Hank had gone without shoes.
Raven chuckled before winking at Hank. "Baby steps, Hank," she reminded him, leaning up and kissing him on the cheek. Before Hank could react, she had hurried away, towards where the rest of the group was waiting for the race to begin.
Hank shot an uncomfortable look towards Charles, who was standing a few feet away and had been watching the entire time. The telepath raised an eyebrow, and the two hyper intelligent mutants stood there in an awkward silence for almost a full minute.
"If you hurt her," Charles finally stated, shooting the taller male a warning look. "You don't want to know what I'll do to you."
"Understood," Hank replied immediately, giving a brisk nod. He glanced up towards the finish line, where Raven was sitting with the others. The blond waved over, and Hank smiled before waving back.
Charles grinned cheerfully at the confirmation and replied, "Good." He leaned down in a runner's starting position, and Hank did the same. Hank took a deep breath as Charles said, "Let the beast free, Hank." He paused before finally starting, "One… two… three… go!"
Both bolted from the starting line, but it was only a few seconds before Hank started to leave Charles behind in the dust. The brunet scientist raced ahead, passing the finish line before Charles was a third of the way there. But the mutant didn't stop; he kept going
"Wait, what's he doing?" Katie asked, frowning as she watched.
Raven grinned. "Graduating from baby steps." She looked back to the starting line, and grinned as Hank passed it again and made his way to Charles, tapping his shoulder as Charles finally made it to the finish line.
Hank was beaming, and Raven jumped up and hugged him. "You did great!"
Alex rolled his eyes and smiled before nodding towards Hank. "Not bad, bozo."
The brunet mutant nodded back, and Caroline couldn't help but grin at the small symbol of peace between the two, who hadn't gotten along the best as of late.
"Hank's raised the bar, kids," Miranda warned them. She and Erik stood a bit back, and no one had failed to notice that one of Erik's arms was around her waist. "You guys have to meet it."
Katie smiled. "We can do that."
Later that morning, Sean was constantly whispering to himself "baby steps" as he prepared for what he thought was his doom. In the room next door, Katie was regarding the situation in a far different light.
"Oh, happy day!" cheered Katie as she crowded into the window with Alex, Raven, and Erik. She looked down below and waved cheerfully at Caroline and Miranda. Erik rolled his eyes as Katie's behavior, but didn't seem too annoyed at it. "We're throwing Sean out a window! It is such a happy day!"
On the ground below, Caroline leaned in towards Miranda. "I don't think I've seen her this happy in the time that I've known her," she said quietly, rolling her eyes with a small smile.
"Well, you have a brother, right?" Miranda asked, glancing over at Caroline with a grin of her own. The brunette gave a quick nod before Miranda continued, "Haven't you ever wanted to throw him out a window? I know I've wanted to throw Erik out of one more than once."
Caroline smirked, laughing at the mental images she was getting from this conversation. "Yeah, but I don't feel the way about my brother that Katie feels about Sean."
"Touché."
In the room above, Sean glanced at the black and yellow wings on his back nervously. He turned back to Hank, mistrust and nervousness in his eyes as he demanded, "And you're sure this will work?"
"Anything is possible," Hank replied, clearly not noticing the look of increasing panic appearing on Sean. Hank continued talking, regardless. "I based the design-"
Charles noticed the look of increasing panic on Sean's face and ordered, "Hank, stop talking." The scientist fell silent instantly, scowling to himself as he double checked to see if the wings on Sean's back were properly secured. "Come on."
Hank and Charles guided the reluctant redhead to the window. In the room next door, the four mutants were crowded in. Sean swallowed nervously as he sat on the ledge, looking down at the green hedge below. "This is not going to work."
"Optimism, Sean, optimism!" Miranda shouted up, wincing as she tried to estimate the distance between Sean and the ground.
"You're not the one about to be pushed out a window!" Sean yelled back down, trying to scoot back into the room.
"C'mon, Sean," Alex called over, smirking as the redhead turned his glare to him. "Just jump."
"Aren't friends supposed to stop you from taking the plunge?" Sean wondered aloud, looking around wildly for someone to get him out of this situation.
"Not around here!" Katie replied, glancing down before turning her attention back to Sean. "Now jump!"
Charles rolled his eyes before patting Sean's arm. "Now, remember, scream as loud as you can."
Sean glanced down again and shuddered. "That's not going to be a problem," he muttered darkly, shuddering again as he tightened his grip on the ledge of the window.
"You need the sound waves to be supersonic," Hank explained, not entirely aware that each word he spoke only increased Sean's already hyper levels of panic. "Catch them at the right angle and they should carry you."
Sean gave a sarcastic laugh before shooting a look to Hank. "They should carry me. That's reassuring." He paused. "Oh, wait. No it isn't! I'm going to die!"
"Stop being dramatic and jump already!" Katie exclaimed, rolling her eyes. "The sooner you jump, the sooner you'll be done with it."
Charles chuckled before patting Sean's arm again. "You heard the girl. Good luck and don't forget to scream." He and Hank returned to inside the window, waiting along with the others for Sean to jump out.
Sean swallowed again before crossing himself on the chest. A moment later, he took a deep breath and pushed himself on the edge. A few seconds later, he let out a startled yell, following by the rustling thud of him falling into the bushes.
The reactions of the others were instantaneous. Erik, Raven, Alex, and Katie all laughed, though Katie had also winced a bit. Miranda and Caroline, at the bottom, grimaced at the sight and then hurried forward to try and pull Sean out of the bushes. Charles groaned from his position in the room, and Hank shook his head with a slight smirk on his face.
Sean spat out a leaf as Miranda and Caroline pulled him out. "Well, that was useless," Sean said bluntly, glaring up towards the others.
"Baby steps, Sean," Caroline reminded him, patting him on the arm as she pulled off a few twigs. "Baby steps."
Sean only grumbled in response.
As the balls flew through the air, Caroline forced herself not to dive out of the way. After over an hour of this, however, she had long since reached her breaking point. "This is useless!" she grumbled, glaring over towards where Miranda and Alex had stopped throwing balls at her for the moment. She ran a hand through her hair, dangerously close to crying with frustration.
Alex set a ball down before walking forward without a word. Miranda paused in her ball-throwing, watching as Alex made his way to Caroline, who was pulling her hair back into a ponytail. Alex stopped right in front of her, grabbing each of her shoulders in his hands.
She looked up at him, startled, as he told her quietly, "Hey, it's alright. Don't worry if you make mistakes now. Just keep going. We have faith in you. You just have to keep going."
"Easier said than done," Caroline muttered, shaking her head as she tried to force herself to look away from Alex. She couldn't.
Alex shot her a look. "Do it for me, then," he replied.
That got her attention. She looked up softly at him, her eyes softening as she gave a single quick nod. Alex smiled down warmly at her before turning around and going back to Miranda. He picked up the ball, and as soon as Caroline nodded her ready, he tossed it at her. Miranda did the same, and the balls flew towards her. They began to hit her again quickly enough.
With Alex's words echoing in her head, Caroline closed her eyes and concentrated.
Everyone else was making progress, and she was not going to be left behind. She was not going to be something that was weighing everything else down. She was going to pull her weight, and be a member of this team. She had given up everything for this. And at the same time, she was gaining everything she could ever hope for.
With a calm breath, Caroline reached out.
In that moment, she disappeared, and several balls passed through the space she had been moments before.
"Oh my God!" Miranda dropped the ball she had been holding. Next to her, Alex paused as well, a glowing grin quickly appearing on his face as he realized what had just happened. Erik, Raven, and Katie all stared at the sight in amazement, watching as Caroline reappeared a few seconds later. "Caroline, you did it!" Miranda exclaimed, her own excitement getting the best of her.
Caroline's jaw dropped. "You're kidding me." She stared at each of her present teammates in turn, absolute glee entering her eyes as she exclaimed, "You're kidding me."
"Caroline, you did it," repeated Alex, absolutely beaming at her. "You did great!"
"Oh my God, I actually did it!" Caroline squealed in excitement, running over to the group and pulling Miranda into a hug. She released the brunette a moment later, and then jumped over to Alex.
Almost quicker than anyone could see, Caroline kissed Alex before hugging the stunned mutant and hurrying over towards Raven and Katie. The three started jumping up and down, and any words that the three were exchanging were lost in their excited, thrilled yells. Alex's face was currently home to a deep red blush, and he was staring at Caroline in amazement.
Miranda grinned over at Erik, rolling her eyes as he chuckled himself. The brunette electricity controlling mutant turned her attention back to Alex. The younger mutant was still blushing furiously, but a dazed grin had appeared on his face as he continued to watch Caroline, a surprising tenderness at play in his eyes.
Miranda gave a sigh. "Oh, Alex is growing up," she teased, laughing as Alex whirled and glared at her. "Oh, c'mon, that was adorable."
Alex rolled his eyes. "Shut up, Mom."
Miranda didn't reply as she looked back at Erik and beamed.
The genuine smile she received back made her feel as though everything that had happened up to this point was worth it.
Katie let out an alarmed yell as a bucket of cool water was dumped over her head. Pulling strands of soaked blond hair away from her face, she glared at a smirking Erik a few feet away. "What the hell are you doing?!" she demanded, her voice higher pitched than normal.
She turned around, glaring at the certain redhead holding the bucket. Sean shot her a cheerful look, but glanced down warily as the water in the fountain began to swirl around. Katie failed to notice it, however, and instead turned her glare back to Erik. The moment her back was turned, Sean leaned down and filled the bucket with water again.
"This, Katie, is reinforcement," Erik replied, smirking slightly as he realized that Katie's temper could only be stoked further from here. "If you use your powers, you won't get soaked."
"Erik, this isn't-"
Erik smirked. "Sean."
As Miranda made her way over to the group, Katie let out a startled yelp as Sean let loose another bucket of water on here. "Sean, I'm going to kill you!" Katie vowed, closing her eyes and refusing to turn around.
"C'mon, Katie, you can do this," Sean told her. He refilled the bucket of water and then stood behind her, smirking slightly at the soaking wet girl. "You just need to focus. You don't have to get angry, you just have to do what you have to."
Katie had paused when Sean had started talking, and sighed before closing her eyes. Sean watched her quietly, and Miranda paused next to Erik. "I thought you were using Sean to piss her off," Miranda murmured, shooting him a questioning look.
He chuckled. "Let's say that I learned from you that pissing someone off doesn't always work," Erik admitted, smiling down at her. Miranda beamed up at him, and a moment later, a startled yelp from the fountain drew both of their attention.
The water that had been in Sean's bucket had disappeared, and was slowly floating back into the fountain. Katie had turned around at Sean's yelp, her hand outstretched as she moved the water around carefully, a huge, beaming grin on her face.
"Katie, you're doing it," Sean exclaimed, grinning proudly at her. A moment later, Katie paused and smirked as she flicked her hand sharply. A large amount of water in the fountain flew up and hit Sean, knocking him down into the fountain's water, his whole body underwater within second.
A moment later, the water that remained in the air fell to the ground as Katie laughed hysterically. As his head broke the surface of the water, Sean gave several violent coughs before turning to glare at Katie. Without saying a single word, he then smirked and dove forward, pulling Katie into the water with him. Katie yelped in surprise as she became even more soaked than she had been a few minutes earlier.
However, much to Miranda's surprise, Katie did not become angrier. She merely grinned.
A few moments later, the teenagers were involved in what was clearly a serious water fight. Erik rolled his eyes before putting an arm around Miranda's shoulder. "Let's go," he said. "I doubt I'll be able to do anything else with either of them today."
With those last words, the two walked off, the laughter of the teens following them every step of the way.
Later that afternoon, as he stared down at the insanely stupid suit with the weird circle in the middle, Alex couldn't help but wish he was anywhere but here. "Sexy," he commented dryly, turning a glare towards Hank. Despite the attempts of both to be more civil, there was only so much both could do at a time.
As she entered the bunker, Caroline shot him a smile. "Well, I think so," she said, leaning against the wall. Miranda, standing next to her, only rolled her eyes with a smile, ignoring the smug smirk that had appeared on Alex.
"Well, this is just the prototype," Hank said, both defending his intention from Alex and to explain it further to Charles and Miranda. The real one will look considerably better. "It will be a whole suit," he added, pointing at one particular part of the suit. "See, these sensors measure your energy output, this panel focuses it, and the excess is absorbed."
"Nicely done, Hank," Miranda said, shooting him an encouraging smile. She turned her attention to Alex. "Just stay calm, and do what you can. You've been having great progress."
Alex snorted. "Yeah. Last time we tried this I only set half the bunker on fire."
"And this time you'll hit the manikin," Caroline predicted, grinning cheerfully at him.
Charles pointed down to the three manikins at the far end of the room, directing Alex's attention to the center one. "Hit the one in the middle, and only the one in the middle." He patted Alex's back before heading out of the room, followed by Hank and Miranda. Caroline shot Alex a quick encouraging smile before following the others into the hallway.
As Charles shut the metal door behind him, Miranda looked to Hank. "You think this will help him?" she asked, clearly referring to the vest they had strapped him in.
"Positive," Hank replied confidently. The group glanced up as the light next to the door changed. Charles opened up the metal door, pausing when he saw Alex on the ground, sitting and shaking his head on the two burning manikins on either side of the untouched center one.
Charles grabbed the fire extinguisher as Caroline walked in, glancing up the black marks in the ceiling that signaled where Alex had accidentally hit. The brunette sat next to the blond mutant, who had instead began scowling at the two burning manikins.
Alex glared at Caroline as he ran a hand through his short blond hair. "If you say baby steps, I might have to hurt you, Caroline," he warned, looking frustrated and embarrassed. "This is freaking impossible."
Caroline sighed and then squeezed his arm. "Relax, you're doing fine," she said, looking at the two burning manikins. She finally sighed and then looked up at him. "Hey, what did you say to me earlier?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
Alex bit his lip as he thought back to back before Caroline's earlier training session. "Don't sweat making a few mistakes," he remembered. "Just keep going."
"Exactly." Caroline nodded once before pointing at the manikins. "You have to keep going and be proud of what you've done so far." Her encouraging smile turned teasing as she lightly tapped the circle on Alex's vest. "All while in your super sexy outfit."
Alex scoffed before rustling Caroline's brown hair. "Whatever, Caroline," he murmured. His hand pulled back, and paused before grabbing Caroline's and squeezing, not letting go. He paused before looking back at her, his smile genuine and grateful. "Thanks," he added.
Caroline smiled and squeezed back. "Anytime," she replied simply.
That night, with the four exhausted adults spread across the room, Charles turned to Erik. "So, we're making progress?" he asked casually.
Erik gave a small smile. "We're making progress."
He closed his eyes as the other three cheered, too tired to join in, but not too tired for his smile to grow.