October 22, 1962

"May I ask you something?" Shaw asked, "Why are you on their side?"

Erik breathed in. He wondered at the fact that he could be so calm. In the past, he had been so angry that his body had shaken. Metal had fallen down around him. Hubcaps bent and crockery was ruined. Once or twice a car had rolled over, though he'd managed to cover it up.

Now, confronted by a man who had done nothing but destroy his life, the man who had taken both his mother and his wife away from him, all he could do was stare. His rage had cooled in his veins reminding him of how much he wanted to kill the man in front of him.

"Why fight for a doomed race that will hunt us down as soon as they realize their reign is coming to an end?" Shaw asked.

Shaw's words were barely making it past the surface. The old pain from his mother's death was still seeping through him. It was so deep inside of him that he never let it go. If it had been the only thing he'd felt, then the words might have done something other than brush over him.

The pain was compounded and made sharper by what happened to Susanna though. He just remembered her still form the night before, the way her face hadn't as much as twitched as he spoke to her. She was still alive, and he would never speak to her again.

It had created a shield around him, insulating him. He felt the anger begin to kindle inside him again. A doomed race? Humans. Obviously they were going to fail with the rise of mutants. Erik had once seen what happened when people hated what was different. He couldn't let that happen again. Not to Lorna, and not to Anya if she ended up being a mutant. He'd already told Charles how scared he was of some intolerant racist coming after his children.

His children. The children he'd had with Susanna. A human. His wife, who Shaw had killed. His mind whirled in circles. He could still taste the scream that he had screamed when he was a child and his mother was shot. His ears were still ringing with the proclamation that his wife would probably never wake up again.

He lashed out and punched Shaw. Erik had been prepared for cutting his hand on Shaw's helmet and breaking his nose. He hadn't prepared to have his hand reverberate. It felt as though he were a rubber saw that had been shaken. The wobbles went all the way up to his shoulder.

Erik stared at Shaw, too shocked to do anything. Was that part of his power?

"I'm sorry for what happened in the camps," Shaw said, "I truly am."

The words passed through the shield and cut into him. The cool, wordless rage he'd felt only moments earlier melted away into pure anger.

"And the CIA?" he spat, "Do you expect me to believe that you're sorry about what you did to my wife?"

"No," Shaw said, tapping Erik's forehead.

Erik felt something push him back. He hit the wall behind him, and pain shot up his spine. Glass shattered all around him.

Erik, keep doing it! Whatever you're doing, it's starting to work!

"I did everything I did to unlock your power," Shaw said, strolling towards him, "Of course, when the Invaders raided the camp, that put a wrench in things. I figured that you would come looking for me one day, and I could explain. Your wife was an unforeseen complication."

He put a hand underneath Erik's chin, and Erik was hurtled into another wall. More glass broke, sprinkling over his back. All of the coolness was disappearing. His wife was a complication? The most peaceful, happiest portion of his adult life was a complication?

It's working! I'm starting to see him but I can't yet touch his mind!

Erik began to get to his feet. He could shatter the mirrors. Of course he could, it appeared that he was already doing it without really trying. And then, with Charles's help, he would utterly destroy the man in front of him.


This was bullshit. Alex had shouted as much as the soldiers had pointed guns at him. He'd been protecting them from Azazel, and again from Angel. Why couldn't they see that? Why couldn't they get it through their thick skulls?

This wasn't what soldiers were supposed to be like. They were supposed to be smart and strong. They were supposed to look at their surroundings and really see what was going on. They were supposed to be like his father.

However, he knew perfectly well that swearing wasn't going to help. So he walked with his hands above his head, not for the first time in his life, towards some sort of holding cell. It was only when he saw Sean that he realized that this was going to have a different ending.

He grinned and put his hands over his ears just as Sean screamed. The soldiers put their hands over their ears and fell to the ground. Alex made a break for it, running for the bow of the ship. It was before him in no time. It turned out that all those races with Lorna had paid off.

He jumped off, and Sean grabbed his arm. There was another cry, and they soared higher. Alex breathed in, trying to calm himself for a minute. He hated flying now. He really, really hated flying, but he forced himself to look down. It would do no good to keep his eyes closed.

As soon as he did, it didn't seem frightening any more. It seemed much more fun, and he could help letting out a whoop or two. Sean grinned at him, and he had the feeling that he was going to say something, but a fireball landed on his cape and began burning a hole through it.

They started to lose altitude. Alex felt his feet skimming the surface of the ocean. Sean screamed, trying to keep them up for another few meters to the beach. They reached it, but they were still coming in too hard. They were going to crash.

Not again, Alex thought.

He hit the ground and tumbled. The sand was in his face and eyes, and he had to fight to regain his sense of orientation. As soon as he did, he ran over to Sean. He heard Darwin yelling something at them. Alex didn't look up. Part of Sean's arm had been burned badly. They needed to clean and bandage it.

Something moved beside him. He watched as Darwin jumped into the sky, wings sprouting from his back. Angel gave him a shocked look before he barreled into her, shoving her to the ground. Angel gave a short scream, muffled by the sand.

Darwin punched her once across the jaw and she fell still. Sean let out a whoop and Alex grinned.

"You didn't tell us you could do that!" Sean yelled.

"Just figured it out," Darwin said, cracking his neck.

Alex continued grinning, but as he looked around the expression faded slightly when he saw Azazel and Hank appear. The two of them were locked in combat, but Azazel quickly flipped Hank over. Azazel raised his tail, the point about to go into Hank's unprotected eyes.

Before Alex knew anything, he had already run over and tackled Azazel. There was a smell of sulphur and he felt himself get pushed into the sand. Azazel's hand was around his throat and Alex scrabbled at it, gasping for air.

"Azazel!"

Azazel turned. Shaw was standing there, and Alex drew up short. Lorna and her father were supposed to be fighting Shaw. What the hell?

"It's over," Shaw said.

Alex pulled away tossed Azazel off him. Azazel rolled into the sand and Hank smashed his fist into his face. Alex saw blood fly up and Azazel slumped, unconscious. Alex hadn't thought that the nerd had it in him.

Hank looked up. Alex turned his full attention towards Shaw, wondering what was going to happen. Then Shaw rippled, turning into Raven. Hank blinked, uncertain. Right, he didn't have his glasses. He probably had no idea what had just happened.

"It's Raven," Alex said.

A small, uncertain smile spread over Hank's face. Darwin went over to help him and, at first, Alex smiled again. But Lorna and her father still weren't out there. His eyes drifted towards the sub. What was going on in there?


Emma picked Lorna up and tossed her even further. The room she was in was filled with buttons and knobs. She rolled over, trying to move while cataloging her injuries. Lorna knew that she had bruises all over her. She knew that her foot was sprained, even though she was still on the floor and had yet to put any weight on it. Emma was really trying to draw this out. She supposed that it was the kind of thing that Emma enjoyed. It was probably why she'd teamed up with Shaw.

"What a pity," Emma said, "Mommy's little mistake.

Somewhere in the ensuing fight her French braid had come undone. Her green hair was coming down in front of her face, clouding her vision. She tried to feel the metal under her palm, but it seemed distant. It was probably how disoriented she was. She couldn't let Emma win though. Lorna began to tug off her gloves. Maybe if she could really touch it she could be a bit more focused.

A diamond fist flew towards her. Lorna ripped off her glove and rolled to the side. She planted her hand on the metal paneling. It was cool underneath her touch, cool and beautiful. Lorna remembered everything that Charles and her father had told her. She closed her eyes, even though she knew that Emma's fist was heading for her head.

The metal twisted up from the floor around Emma's ankles. It threw her back into the metal wall before her fist could hit Lorna's head. Lorna rolled onto her back and held both of her hands out. The metal twisted from the wall of the sub, peeling into bands and wrapping around her.

Emma was fighting the bands, but Lorna kept bringing more and more bands. She flicked her hand and ripped up the flooring, sending it towards her. Lorna kept sending more and more until Emma was cocooned into the side of the wall. The only thing exposed was her head.

Lorna panted and struggled to her feet. She tentatively tried to put weight on her foot but, like she'd thought, it was lightly sprained. She'd have to be careful with that. However, she was still able to stand tall, look Emma in the eye, and say:

"My mother didn't make mistakes."

Lorna crossed her arms and glared at her. She knew that she should run after her father, try to help him, but there was something that she needed to know.

"That night at the CIA compound," Lorna asked, "What did you do, and how do we fix it?"

Emma laughed.

"I'm really not in the mood to play twenty questions sweetheart."

Lorna raised her hand and clenched it into a fist. The metal began to tighten around Emma.

"Funny," Lorna said, "Neither am I."

She could see her twist back and forth. Lorna had to be careful: she didn't want to kill Emma, just make her uncomfortable enough to talk. She was beginning to worry that she didn't know where that threshold was though.

"Fine!" Emma snapped.

She glared at Lorna, but then a smirk crossed her lips.

"I went into your mother's mind," Emma said, "I saw all the memories that were in there, from birth until that very moment. I saw her emotions, hopes, dreams for the future. I saw them, and I erased them."

She laughed again.

"Your mother's mind is gone," said Emma, "Gone. I slashed it out-"

"You're lying!" Lorna screamed.

Emma just smiled and Lorna's heart sank.

"Believe what you want," she said.

Lorna raised her hand and a piece of metal wrapped itself around Emma's mouth. She gave her a filthy look.

"I'll be back in a few minutes," she said, "Try to keep that damned mouth shut until I get back."

She looked down the hallway that her father had disappeared down. Her mind was buzzing, the pain becoming incredible. Her mother was gone, really gone. Never again would her mother tuck Anya into bed, never again would she hear her voice or see her smile.

But her father was waiting for her, fighting the man who had ordained this future for her mother. So Lorna swallowed her tears, forcing herself on.