Deciding (1)
A/N Hi! Again I apologise for irregular chapter posting, I'm sorry! Have a good Easter, and thanks for reading.
Charles, Logan, and Hank enter the enclosed area on the vast green lawn cautiously, all scanning the crowd for any sight of Raven or Peter. They don't really expect to spot them, of course, one being faster than a bullet, and the other having the potential to be any of the people in the large crowd before them.
The lawn is overflowing with people, much more than they predicted, and factored into their hasty, brief plan, and will make their lives infinitely more complicated. Charles' eyes and mind are also frantically searching for any sign of Erik, and he grows more restless with every passing minute that his old friend is absent.
He tries to keep these constant worries from the mind of Lena, who is invisibly weaving her way through the crowds with difficulty, but she hears them anyway, and tries her best to comfort him.
We'll find him, Charles. Don't worry.
He doesn't reply, just constantly flicks his vision between her eyes and his own until she snaps at him to search through the eyes of crowd members.
He takes her advice, and after another five minutes, as Trask appears on stage, he hears a voice, her voice.
This is for you, my mutant brothers and sisters.
Charles freezes Raven without hesitation, then gasps as two large bodyguards drag on Aiysha.
Her white blond curls, which used to hang down to her elbows, have been roughly chopped to her chin, and have streaks of dirt running through them. She's thinner than Charles ever remembers her being, even when he found her, and the normally present smile turning up the corners of her mouth looks like it has been absent for days.
He hears Hank gasp, and grabs the arm of the young man before he can run towards the stage.
Hank blinks back tears, although he's relieved when Charles stops him from moving. He's not completely sure what his plan was, but he's pretty sure it was something stupid.
"Charles." He says sadly as all his worst fears come true as he sees a bruise leak out from her shirt collar, "they've found a way to hurt her that her mutation doesn't heal."
Charles nods in solemn recognition.
Hank hears Charles' voice in his head.
Lena has Raven.
Hank nods, and checks that off of his mental to-do list. One step down, perhaps 100 to go.
"Hi." A voice says suddenly from behind him and Logan.
"Hey, kid." Logan replies. "It's good to see you."
Peter doesn't reply, or smile, just indicates towards the stage.
"Here's the plan."
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Eventually, Raven agrees to follow Peter's plan, and is released gently from Lena's iron grip. She walks casually through the crowds, still in the guise of the CIA Agent, as she figures it'll open the most doors. Even so, Charles knows the slightly sarcastic look on her face belongs to his sister.
Peter has explained her role, with a little bit of input from Hank, so she follows her instructions.
When she'd asked if she had back up, a grin and a voice appeared out of no where.
"Of course."
[][][]
Charles rubs his forehead anxiously as he continues the search for Erik. Trask's speech is coming to a close, and although no one has said it out loud, all the mutants are painfully aware that Aiysha's execution will follow shortly afterwards. He knows that Erik would never miss this, especially now that he knows of Charles' involvement after their conversation yesterday. If there's something Erik will always turn up to, it's a chance to prove Charles wrong and persuade him to join Erik's so-called 'Brotherhood'. From the brief information told to him by Raven only minutes before, the Brotherhood is small but strong, and not something Charles particularly wants to be on the wrong side of. However, Raven said she has no reason to believe any Brotherhood members would get involved, as staying in contact was difficult after Erik's arrest.
Even so, Charles broadens his search to include known Brotherhood members, just in case Erik managed to track them down and turn them to his cause.
Suddenly, there's a rumble, and the creaking and groaning of metal that makes all of Charles' worst fears come true. It saves Peter a job though, he supposes, as he sees that the President and his entourage, including Trask, interrupted mid speech, are heading towards the secret bunker Hank located when doing desperate background research/hacking to try and find anything to boost their plan.
Charles spots Erik as soon as he spots the massive flying stadium.
Logan sighs.
"Has he always been this dramatic?" He asks.
"Yes." Charles and Hank both reply sullenly.
[][][]
When Erik arrives, causing wide spread panic, Raven almost gives away her cover, as it takes everything she has not to scream down the stadium with her frustration. She's not Banshee, but she probably could have managed it anyway. Of course, she should have known he'd show his face, but she really could have done without it today.
She has more than a few things to think about, without the possibility of her ex-boyfriend trying to kill her, which he'll probably try to do, even if his main reason for being here is to rescue Aiysha. Erik may be brutal, possibly even mad, but he's not so far gone that he would let an innocent mutant die, not when he knows that he can do something about it.
So? Raven thinks grumpily. What did I do, Erik?
She almost tears her hair out when the President, Trask and all the suited men run into a bunker which is clearly made of metal. Controllable, pliable, metal. What would happen if Erik decides killing Trask isn't enough, and just made the bunker fold in on itself?
She gulps. For the plan to work, she has to go into that thing and put herself utterly at the mercy of Erik.
A quick tap on her elbow reminds her of her job, and kicks her legs back into action so that she runs into the bunker just as a burly bodyguard pulls the door closed.
Raven takes a deep breath as she looks around. Her gaze falls on Trask, who, only looks slightly shaken, and Mystique mutters a few words.
It'd be so easy to just kill him now.
Raven ignores her, though with some difficulty. Her stomach turns with the fact that she's under orders to protect him. Charles' Raven and Erik's Mystique glare at each other, both wondering what the best cause of action is.
Both wonder want to punish Trask, one wonders if it's truly necessary to take his life, but for now they follow the instructions of Peter Maximoff.
[][][]
Aiysha feels herself being shoved into a corner, and shrinks into the cold metal. Metal.
She jumps back, already scared of the inanimate walls. She's wearing a blindfold, so she couldn't see Erik, but heard the tell tale creaking of metal all the X-Men have come to associate with Magneto. He may be coming for her sake, or so she hopes, but his methods have always been a step or two over the line Aiysha calls 'acceptable'. She hopes he is working with Charles and the others, who she hopes with all her head are here.
She jumps as a hand touches hers. She plucks up the courage to move the blindfold slightly, but the space in front of her is empty. Could it be? She barely wants to hope, just in case she's crushed again.
During her imprisonment, she couldn't count the times she thought she felt an invisible hand, or saw a silver blur or a tuft of blue fur. She thought be might be going mad, especially after she spotted what she thought was red light accompanied by a familiar burning smell. That moment crushed her more than anything else.
Then somebody squeezes her hand, and a piece of paper is pushed into her fist. Before she reads it, she thinks her question.
Lena? Her breath stops whilst she waits the second for the answer.
I'm here.
[][][]
After delivering Peter's message to Aiysha, Lena returns to stand beside Raven at the edge of the bunker. The paper message was Hank's idea; he quite rightly pointed out that after all she'd been through, she might not believe she rescue mission told to her in her mind. Hank also shakily explained that he feared that Trask seemed to have found a way of hurting Aiysha that her mutation couldn't heal.
Lena looks once more at her friend, who is furtively reading the message from Peter which briefly explains his plan. It's a good plan, Lena thinks, but she agrees with the comment Charles made to her. Peter's plan is not watertight by any stretch of the imagination, and lacks the experience of actual combat that a detailed plan by Hank would.
The few tweaks made by Hank before they all separated had helped, but they all silently noted that they would have to be prepared for a bit of improvisation.