Charles now sitting in his wheelchair, wheeling himself down towards Cerebro, while they followed close behind.
"When was the last time you were down here?" Logan asked, as he looked around the hallways a hint of nostalgia in his eye.
"The last time we went looking for students," Hank diplomatically.
"A lifetime ago..." Charles added with a sigh.
He paused, looking into the circle in the center of the vault-like door. Two strips of blue light shined across Charles' hesitant face, moving to form a 'X' shape.
"Welcome, Professor," A female sounding robotic voice echoed through the empty corridor, as the door opened, letting them inside. Ivy looked around the familiar blue room and couldn't help the small smile that threatened to pull her lips, she'd only been in Cerebro a handful of times since the first time Charles Hank introduced them to the incredible machine but each time was an experience.
"Raven's wounded," Hank reminded, always so helpful as they arrived at the console. "She won't be moving fast," he added, before switching on the machine.
Charles picked up the helmet, gripping it tightly with shaking hands before blowing off the dust to reveal it's shiny exterior.
"These are muscles I haven't stretched in a long time," he remarked, Ivy placed the hand of her non injured arm on his shoulder for a moment squeezing encouragingly, he gave her a hesitant smile before slowly placing the helmet over his shaggy brown hair.
The machine turned on with a burst of white and red light filling the room displaying all the minds that Charles was currently touching. Normally it was quite a beautiful display, but this time there was something off with it. Usually he was able to easily distinguish between mutants and nonmutants, usually there was a burst of white before it faded into the red of the mutant so Charles could easily find who he was searching for.
Charles sucked in a deep breath, "God!" He groaned as the images started to turn, everything went blood red. There was noise, screams and cries from the people asking for help echoing in the round room. The machinery started to whir uncontrollably.
"Charles!" Hank said, looking frantically at the needles fluttering across the panel. Ivy could tell that it was too much too soon, all the voices were overwhelming him. Charles groaned again and the lights circled around at an almost dizzying speed.
"Charles!" Logan repeated.
Suddenly the room went dark, as Cerebro seemed to break down, sparks flew from the panel as Charles breathed hard for a long moment before pulling the helmet from his head.
"I-it's alright," Hank stuttered, looking around. "I'll go check on the generator," He informed, running out of the open door.
"Hey, hey," Ivy said soothingly, dropping down to her knees in front of Charles, "Look at me." she instructed gently, placing a hand on his chest, "You're okay. It's okay."
Logan approached them with caution. "It's not the machine, is it?" he asked carefully, raising an eyebrow even though Charles couldn't see him.
Charles shook his head violently. "I can't do this. My mind—"
"Yes, you can." Logan interjected firmly
"N-no." Charles' voice started shaking again. "It won't take it."
"You're just a little rusty."
"You don't understand," the telepath snapped, raising his voice. "It's not a question of being rusty. I can flip the switches, I can turn the knobs, but my power doesn't come from here"—he pointed to his temple—"it comes from here"—before moving his finger to his chest. His nostrils flared. "And it's broken."
Ivy frowned and she knew that having this conversation with Charles yet again wouldn't do him any good, no he needed someone else to give him a swift but meaningful kick in the ass, so she stood and dropped a kiss to the top of his head, "I'll leave you two to talk." she said pausing by Logan's side and sharing a look, which he easily interpreted because he nodded before she left them alone.
She stood outside of Cerebro for a few moments hearing the hushed tones of Logan and Charles' conversation flow through, Hank approached looking confused as to why she was waiting outside. "The generators should kick in in a few more minutes. What's going on?"
"He just needs a little bit more time."
Hank nodded, "How's the arm?"
Ivy looked down at her arm like she forgot it was there, "I don't know, I think I stopped feeling it like half an hour ago."
"That's probably not good."
"Probably," she shrugged, "We can deal with it after we deal with Raven."
Seconds later the lights flickered back to life at full power so the re-entered Cerebro to find Logan leaning on the arms of Charles' chair, the two of them locked into an intense stare.
"Powers back on," Hank declared, breaking the tense atmosphere.
"Yes it is," Charles agreed with a small smirk before, looking at the panel.
With renewed conviction Charles placed the helmet back on his head and plugging himself back into Cerebro. This time when the images came to life they were much smoother, the voices not crying out in pain anymore, this time familiar indistinguishable babble, some of them flickered every few seconds Charles still being out of practice but he was still successfully able to find Raven.
"Raven, stop. Stop running," he said firmly, he paused for a few seconds. "Back at the house, where you should be. I need you to come home,"
Since they could only hear Charles' side of the conversation Ivy and Hank shared a look at what Raven could possibly be spouting.
"If you kill Trask, you'll be creating countless more just like him," Based on the face Charles made, he didn't like Raven's reply. "Those are Erik's words not yours. The girl I grew up with wasn't capable of killing. She was good, fair, and compassionate," Charles reminded firmly.
After a pause, Charles' jaw clenched, "Shut her down Charles, get in her head," Logan demanded.
"She's not letting me in," Charles shaking his head. "I'm barely holding on. I'm not strong enough yet," he explained, before turning his focus back on Raven.
"I know what Trask has done, but killing him will not bring them back. it will set you on a path from which there is no return. An endless cycle of killing. Us and them till there is nothing left. But we can stop it right now, you and I. You just have to come home," His voice broke slightly at the end.
The red lights dimmed, showing the break in connection as cerebro powered down, and Charles closed his eyes. He looked so tired and sad in that moment. He pulled the helmet off, with tears in his eyes.
"Where is she?" Ivy asked softly.
Charles chuckled, "She's in an airport, boarding a plane," he replied, rubbing his forehead.
"A plane to where?" Hank inquired
"Washington, D.C."
"This is gonna sting." Hank warned before starting to peel off the gauze that he'd stuck to her shoulder during the flight, finally they had some time to tend to her injuries now that they had an idea of where Raven was going. Charles went to bed, the day having taken a toll on him emotionally and Logan had retreated to one of the unoccupied bedrooms to rest up as well. Hank and Ivy were in his lab, ready to turn in for the night as well but there was still the matter of her arm to deal with.
Ivy hissed and clenched a fist into the bottom of his shirt as the dried blood made the gauze stick to her skin and her wound. "Sorry, sorry." he tried to reassure, peeling it the rest of the way off before discarding it.
"How are you doing?" she asked suddenly as he began cleaning the wound of the fresh blood, he looked confused glancing back between her face and her arm, "C'mon talk to me." she hissed again as he clasped his hands over her shoulder to apply pressure and be sure the bleeding would stop, "Distract me." she added.
"With what?"
"How did it feel to see Raven again?" she asked as he came back around, prepping a needle and thread, "C'mon, I know you still care about her."
"Am I that obvious?" he said before holding up a needle, "Morphine."
She nodded, clenching his shirt again when he injected it, "Not really," she answered his earlier question, "I just know you."
"I don't know," he responded honestly as he began carefully stitching the wounds in her arm from Logan's claws, which thankfully weren't too deep, "I mean we were never really together, but I cared a lot about her. Even though I said some really awful things to her right before Cuba."
"When you first created the serum?"
"Yeah, sometimes I think that's part of the reason she went with Erik. He accepted her for who she was."
"You can't blame yourself for Raven leaving Hank, she made that choice all your own." She flinched when his needle dug into a particularly sore part and he mumbled apologies, "You know personally I think you both had some insecurities to work out. Maybe it was for the best." she sighed, "Honestly Erik's got a way with words, he can deny it all he wants but he got into her head."
"Maybe not for the best." he said as he finished, injecting her with another needle this one filled with antibiotics.
"I guess we'll find out."
Ivy hesitated as she walked past the door, but ultimately decided to just go for it, "Hey," she announced herself knocking on the open door. Logan was reclined on his bed smoking a cigar, he looked up.
"Hey kid," he said sitting up, "How's the arm?"
"All wrapped up and well on its way to being healed," she said shrugging the bandaged shoulder, "As much as I don't like it, Hank insisted that a modified version of his serum would speed up any of the healing mutations I might have."
"You know that was an accident right?"
"I know," she responded with a nod, "What happened to you back there?"
He sighed heavily, "When they sent me back, they told me to think clear thoughts, peaceful thoughts. If my mind slipped there was a chance that I'd forget who I was, where I was."
"That sounds awful."
"You see the kind of damage it can cause." He said nodding to her arm.
"Can I ask you something?"
"Normally I'd say no, but I feel like I owe you one."
Ivy smiled a little to herself, "When we met, you asked me if I was Scott's sister. That means that you don't know me in the future, and that means that you don't know Alex. I know that there's probably some scientific reason that Hank could explain why I shouldn't ask this, but do you have any idea what happens to us?"
Logan sighed heavily scooting to the edge of the bed gesturing to the space beside him, so she joined him, "Magneto, when I knew him, never really talked about a family, only ever the brotherhood. But every once in a while he'd slip up, said he was doing it for 'her', and I asked the professor about it, all he'd say was that there was only ever one person that Magneto cared for that much, not as a wife or a lover or anything like that, like a daughter. But he never told me what happens to her, to you. Or your husband."
"So we died?" She surmised.
"I'm sorry kid." He added sincerely.
"You don't do it right?" she asked, confusing him so he shook his head, "Then you have nothing to apologize for." she added patting his arm before standing and heading to the door.
"Kid," he called, causing her to pause, "It doesn't have to be that way, for either of you. If we change the future tomorrow, maybe I'll get to meet you both in another time."
"Goodnight Logan."
When Ivy woke the next morning it was to a rapid pounding at her bedroom door, she stumbled out of bed and yanked the door open to see Hank there looking guilty and exhausted if the bags under his eyes were any indication, "Hank? Did you sleep at all last night?"
"No," he said before taking a deep breath, "I made a mistake," he added hesitantly.
"What?"
Less than ten minutes Logan and Charles were up with them standing in front of a destroyed Cerebro, and Ivy understood what Hank had meant.
Hank held the broken helmet in his hands, sighing, "We can't track her now," he said, shaking his head.
"She's cut her ties..." Charles sighed as well, gazing at the damaged Cerebro in sorrow.
"So we're screwed?" Ivy said bluntly looking down at the now useless helmet.
"Maybe but," Hank added a hint of hopefulness in his voice, "There's something I need to show you."
A trip back into the mansion and up the elevator took them one of the many rooms that Hank had converted. Multiple TVs lined the walls that were plugged into computers. Tapes were rolling as voices clashed with one another and a web of wires covered the floor.
Hank sat down and flipped some switches, "This is the system I designed to record any news about Paris, over all three networks and PBS," Hank explained.
"All three? Wow," Logan drawled sarcastically.
Hank nodded clearly not taking notice of the man's dry tone, "Yeah, and PBS," he repeated with a light chuckled before shifting his attention back to the matter. "Anyways, look what I found," He said, turning up the volume on one TV.
"Tomorrow in front of the White House," a news reporter began holding a black microphone. "The President will make his announcement. He'll be joined by Secretary of Defense, Laird, and has even sought the help of renowned scientist Bolivar Trask, his special adviser to combat this mutant issue. The White House has asked…" He paused the recording.
"Raven's planning to kill Trask during the president's announcement." Ivy said speaking what everyone was thinking.
"She doesn't realize that if she kills Trask at an event like that with the whole world watching..." Charles started.
"Then I came a long way for nothing," Logan finished.
"So what are we going to do?" Ivy asked with a sigh.
"Wait, there's more bad news," Hank informed. "I saw the report, they found traces of her blood in Paris. For all we know, they already have her DNA, which is all need-"
"To create the Sentinels of the future," Logan finished again and sighed.
"Now there's a theory in Quantum Physics," Hank began. "That time is immutable. It's like a river, you can throw a pebble into it, create a ripple, but the current always corrects itself. No matter what you do, the river just keeps flowing in the same direction,"
"Are you saying that either way Raven might end up killing Trask?" Ivy asked once Hank had finished speaking.
"What I'm saying is," he sighed. "What if the war is inevitable? What if she's meant to kill Trask? What if this is just simply who she is?"
Charles shook his head slowly, "Just because someone stumbles, loses their way, doesn't mean they're lost forever," he said carefully as if reciting someone else's words, "No, I don't believe that theory, Hank," Charles disagreed. "And I cannot believe that is who she is," Charles stated, and Hank nodded in agreement.
"Now ready the plane, we're going to Washington,"
Ivana Bocanegra: Glad I could clear things up for you love. I'll look into it.
Big battle us up next. What do you guys wanna see happen?
As always let me know what you think and what you'd like to see in the future.
Stay safe everyone.