February 23, 1974
Terry watched her uncle with big eyes. She knew she shouldn't be staring at him. It would only make him mad. However, she could tell that he was angry and anxious. The pale man stood next to him, looking completely unaffected by the proceedings. Terry wondered what was going on, but she didn't ask. She just ducked her head and let her hair hide her.
"You should have let me kill them," her uncle said, "We could have found them!"
"I doubt that. From what I have seen of the elder Summers, he is intelligent and quick on his feet. Magneto's daughter appears to be the same," the pale man said.
Despite herself Terry's eyes widened. They were talking about Lorna. She was alright. Lorna was coming for her uncle. Terry hoped that she was coming for her too, but she knew it would be wrong to get her hopes up. Terry wasn't even family after all. It would be wrong of her to expect too much from a woman who had only expressed fondness for her.
"Besides, it was your incompetence that allowed the situation to unfold in the first place," the pale man said, "The Brotherhood and the X-men were supposed to fight each other, not team up."
"I told you I could handle it!"
"Your manner of handling it has nearly ruined everything," the pale man said, his voice still flat, "I really don't think that I can trust that particular definition anymore."
Her uncle gritted his teeth.
"I could have gotten them out of the way."
"And endangered my work?" the pale man said, "No, I think not."
"I said if you wanted the elder-"
"I don't," the pale man said, "But, in some fashion, the Summers bloodline must continue. I want to see why it's working the way it is, to dissect it. It's why I've picked the youngest, for his peculair abilities. But the elder must be allowed to propagate the bloodline. I won't have something like that die out if I can help it."
He adjusted his coat.
"If you must then I suppose the elder is disposable," the pale man said, "But we have to at least try."
Her uncle glared at him, his fists clenched. The pale man smiled.
"Now now Tom," he said, "Mind your temper. And, speaking of the plan, when am I getting that Summers?"
"Today," her uncle spat.
"Goody," the pale man said.
His eyes looked over at Terry. She shrank back further beneath the gaze of his dark eyes.
"I think she looks quite pitiful," he said.
Her uncle glared at her and inwardly Terry sighed. She couldn't shrink back any further. What did he want her to do?
"She'll work," he snapped.
Terry closed her eyes. Now she was involved. Her terror was starting to fade away, still there, still all encompassing, but almost numbed. There was too much of it.
"She'd better," the pale man said, "I want my Summers."
"I already told you you'd get him!"
"I said for you to mind your temper," the pale man said, "After all, we both know what happens if you fail."
Her uncle snarled and the pale man laughed.
"So you do. Good. Now, I need to go make my preparations. We're lucky it was only your equipment that was ruined in that little raid."
Terry heard her uncle stomp his good leg as the pale man continued laughing. The door opened and shut. She heard her uncle turn on his foot and head towards her. She lifted her eyes to see him stare at her, his expression furious. Terry sighed inwardly again, feeling a little detached from her proceedings. She didn't even blink when her uncle snarled again.
"Why did you have to have her eyes?" he shouted.
He smashed his fist into the wall. To her surprise Terry didn't flinch. He glared at her once more before storming out of the room as fast as his limp could carry him. He slammed the door behind her and Terry rested her head on her knees again. The numbness was giving way to something different now, and a few tears squeezed their way out of her eyes.
She was so sick of being afraid.
Sean cracked his neck. He felt nauseous, almost as though something terrible was bubbling the pit of his stomach. Distantly he began to wonder if he was going to throw up. His head was spinning enough for it, and he wished that he could be strong like Alex, Hank, Moira, and Charles. They would be able to deal with the fear and uncertainty of making a decision like he had, or at least he thought they would. Charles had already made a similar decision after all, and he seemed to sleep well enough at night.
He looked over at Scott, who looked determined. His talk had worked, but Sean worried that it had worked too much. He felt stifled in the room. All of the important decisions in his life had been made in seconds. He had gone with Erik and Charles because he didn't want anyone to be hurt. He'd stayed with Charles because he couldn't abandon him. He'd pursued Maeve because he'd felt helpless to her pull, had married her because of the same reason.
Then there was the situation itself. Magneto was, he knew, a little suspicious of him. He didn't blame him, but he couldn't help but feel frustrated about it. Then Hank was coming. He would be there fairly soon. He'd alerted Magneto about it, which had made him even more suspicious. Sean wanted his friend with him, trusted him more than anything, but his arrival was complicating things.
It was also impetuous, more so than he would credit Hank with. However, he remembered the desperate, ferocious look in his eyes when he'd seen Carly. He had never been like that before. His wife was giving him strength, along with the little girl she was carrying, but in this case he wished that she had been able to convince him to stay at Westchester.
He got up and took a deep breath.
"I'm going to go outside for a minute," he said.
Scott nodded.
"When will you be back?" Scott asked.
"Soon," Sean said.
"Okay," Scott said.
He clasped his hand. Sean could tell that he was nervous at the thought that he was close to leading the X-men. It was a huge responsibility, one that Sean was shouldering only temporarily. He patted Scott on the shoulder in what he hoped was a gesture of support before walking out the door.
The hall seemed long. He could hear Magneto murmuring things to his team, perhaps sharing information or telling them to stay clear of the X-men. Sean found that he didn't care. Somehow, in his heart of hearts, he knew what happened next, knew that the inevitable was only a step away.
Outside the night air was cool, clearing his head for a minute. He walked away from the house, knowing that he was outside of the range of Warren and Angel. They wouldn't find him, and he could have a blessed moment alone. It would only be a moment, he was sure of it, but he needed it.
He closed his eyes, feeling the breeze on his face. For a moment he could forget what was happening, what he had lost. The snapping of branches told him that the moment was over. His memories came flooding back, but he kept his eyes closed. His fist clenched around the photograph of Terry for strength.
His eyes opened and he saw Black Tom in front of him. Black Tom smirked.
"Ready for your instructions?" he asked.
Sean gritted his teeth.
"Yes," he said.
"So you're willing to trade Cyclops for little Terry?" he said.
"Yes," Sean said, his voice short.
Black Tom laughed.
"You X-men pretend that you're so righteous," Black Tom said, "But really, you and the Brotherhood are more alike than you'd think. You'd both sell each other out for what they want."
"Will you stop chattering on and just tell me what the hell you want?" Sean snapped, "I don't have time for this."
Black Tom narrowed his eyes.
"Alright Seanny," he said.
He tapped his leg with his shillelagh.
"When you attack go in through the basement with him," he said, "you'll see a door marked 'Restricted Acess: Authorized Personnel Only.' Go in there with him, make sure he's restrained, and we'll do the rest."
Black Tom pointed at him with his shillelagh.
"And remember: you don't get Terry until my client is satisfied."
"I understand," Sean said.
Black Tom smirked.
"It's a very good feeling, watching you dancing on command," Black Tom said.
Sean looked at Black Tom, feeling bile in his throat. He had lost seven years of his little girl's life, seven years that she had been hurt. Seven years that Black Tom had been lording his revenge over him, keeping away the one thing that Sean cared about more than anything, the one thing that he thought he no longer had.
He bit back his words and turned away, his head bowed.
"Can you see him?"
"See who?" Alex asked, putting down his binoculars.
The two of them were lying on their stomachs in the brambles. They were overlooking the factory. Magnetrix had suggested going in at night, and Alex had been inclined to agree with her. If anything Black Tom would be expecting an attack from them directly after they got thrown off the road. He would be surprised that they would come back not only under the cover of darkness, but after a few hours afterwards.
Either that or he figured that they were dead. If so, then he wouldn't be expecting them to attack at all.
"Black Tom," Magnetrix said, "Who else?"
"Hey, it's not as stupid a question as it sounds," Alex said, "We have that pale guy here too. Kind of wonder what he's doing here."
He grimaced as he thought about it. He didn't want to know the kinds that Black Tom would associate with, but his job required it. Magnetrix smiled slightly.
"Right, right," she said, "But Black Tom is still our number one priority."
"You don't have to tell me twice," Alex said.
"I had to tell you once didn't I?"
Alex grinned.
"And you need to assume that I already know," he said.
"But I didn't, and you didn't," Magnetrix said, "Me one, you zero."
"I get one for catching you on the bike," Alex said.
Magnetrix cocked her head.
"Oh, we're counting that far back are we?" she asked, "Then I actually think tha I have something closer to ten and you have five."
"Five?" Alex said.
"Well, I'll give you six," Magnetrix said, "But only since you asked nicely."
Alex laughed and shook his head. He looked over at the woman next to him, a strange thought forming in his mind. Magnetrix was Magneto's daughter. She might not have worked very much with the Brotherhood, but he could tell that it was only because her father wanted to keep her close to home.
He couldn't imagine that she would stay that way for much longer. Her father might be cautious about putting her on missions or not. She had the smarts and the fighting abilities to be a top member of the Brotherhood. He was surprised, after seeing how she fought, that she wasn't on the standard roster already. Her father was probably keeping her back, most likely grooming her to lead after him.
Once they were done with the mission, then she probably would be on the standard roster. That meant that he would be fighting her fairly soon. Somehow the image of him raising his hand against her was a disturbing one. He had seen her smile, heard her laugh, fought by her side. He didn't want to hurt her.
Somehow though, somehow there was something more than that. Alex shifted next to her, trying to quell the strange feeling that was rising in him. By this time the next day, if all went well, they would be enemies again, fighting in a war that had been raging since before they had been born.
"You okay?" Magnetrix asked.
He turned his head away and stared at the factory through his binoculars.
"Fine," he said.
Alex gripped the binoculars tighter. The lie was bitter on his tongue.