Hank was patient in telling Ivy the proper take off procedure but seen as they were on a time crunch they didn't have time for her to actually attempt joining him in takeoff.
"Hey," she called softly grabbing his attention, he glanced at her quickly before focusing his attention back on flying. "You know what happened with Cerebro, with Raven, that wasn't your fault. You know that right?"
He sighed, "Deep down I do," he admitted honestly, "Maybe when this is all over I can convince the rest of me too."
"What was she like?"
He frowned, "She was hurt so I bandaged her up, then we talked a little, I thought I might've actually convinced her to stay. Then I kissed her. Or she kissed me? I don't know, she still wants me to be proud of," he cleared his throat, "The Beast, like she is in her blue form" he shook his head, "I left after that, told her to get some rest. I guess not long after she went into cerebro and, well you know."
"Yeah," Ivy nodded, "Still not your fault."
Hank nodded but she could tell he wasn't fully convinced, if at all, "You should head back, make sure Charles is okay."
Which was code for he wanted to be alone for a while, "Alright," she nodded and stood turning in the small cockpit, his voice stopped her before she could exit thought.
"Hey Ives," he paused for a second, "Thank you. For listening, and for being there, you're a really good friend."
Ivy smiled, carefully wrapping her arms around his neck to not impede his flying, "You are too." she told him before pressing a kiss to his cheek then exiting the cockpit.
Crossing the cabin to the small plane she took the seat next to Charles laying her head on his shoulder, he chuckled slightly letting her take his hand, the one not rubbing at his legs.
"How are you feeling?"
"Getting there," he sighed.
"Pain?" "
"I've had worse." he mumbled sarcastically.
"Listen uh," Logan sighed leaning over from where he sat at the adjacent table, "Whatever happens today, I need you to promise me something," he began. "You looked into my mind and you've seen a lot of bad, but you've seen the good too,"
Ivy raised a brow slightly, Charles had seen the future? That must have been what gave his push to properly guide cerebro.
"The X-Men. Promise me you'll find us. Use your power, bring us together. Guide us. Lead us," the burly mutant continued. "Storm." he paused glancing over at Ivy before continuing, Scott. Jean. Remember those names. There are so many of us. We will need you, Professor,"
Charles looked like he wanted to smile, but he just raised his eyebrows, "I'll do my best," Charles promised.
Logan nodded and leaned back, "Your best is enough. Trust me," Logan said with a smile that didn't look as out of place on him as Ivy wanted to believe.
At least a hundred people stood on the lawn in front of the White House. The crowds moving and shifting around in order to find the best possible seat to view Nixon's speech, the stage itself was packed with military personnel all in varying uniforms. On the grass in front of the stage stood a handful of secret service agents.
Ivy walked through the metal detector, then Charles being pushed by Hank in his wheelchair. Predictably the machine beeped, and Charles only shrugged before patting the armrest of his wheelchair with an easy expression.
A guard shifted on his feet as he held out a hand to stop them, asking calmly, "Can I see your invitations please?"
Without missing a beat Charles lifted his two fingers to his temple and stared at the guard. "Yes, you may," he said. "These three are with me."
Realization dawned on the guard's face. "Go ahead." He bobbed his head once.
Hank moved immediately pushing Charles further into the venue, Ivy was about to follow but paused looking back at Logan who was staring at the metal detector, "Logan," she called getting his attention, "You okay?"
He sighed putting his sunglasses back on, "That doesn't normally happen." He explained putting a hand on her back guiding them through the crowds behind Charles and Hank.
Due to Charles' wheelchair they were able to get a good position near the stage. Once settled Charles raised his fingers to his temple again this time to search the crowd for Raven. Hank and Logan surveyed the crowd, also looking around for Raven, but Ivy didn't realizing that it was near pointless to do so with Raven's mutation.
"Haven't found her yet but she has to be here," Charles informed them evenly.
"The President of the United States!" A voice announced through the speakers all around the field pulling their attention to the stage.
Sure enough seconds later, President Nixon walked onto the stage, his secret service agents following close behind.
Nixon held his hands up to silence the crowds boisterous cheers, "My fellow Americans," he started. "Today we face the gravest threat in our history, mutants," Ivy grit her teeth and shared a glance with Hank, there was truth in the statement however there was untruth too. "We have prepared for this threat. In the immortal words of Robert Oppenheimer, 'Behold. The world will never be the same again," he finished, with a wave of his hand.
The curtain behind him dropped, revealing a row of machines. The sentinels. They were mainly purple and silver, with their mechanical heads bowed downwards clearly to show that they were powered down for the reveal. But Logan had informed them that the robot's were more deadly than they appeared. Hell even powered down, Ivy felt a trickle of fear run down her spine at the mere thought of how many of their kind those things would be responsible for killing.
The servicemen raised their arms up to their foreheads in salute and the military band started to play the hymn of the country and the President looked on in pride pointing at eight giant robots.
"Raven!" Charles shouted suddenly, and the three of them looked down in surprise. "I have her."
"Where?" Hank asked, looking around.
"There," Charles said, pointing to the general direction of the stage specifically where a man with brown hair was standing awkwardly as if frozen. "You see? Secret Serviceman. Left of the stage," Logan and Hank nodded.
"Got it," Logan confirmed.
"Go," Ivy ordered. "I'll stay here," she added, Logan was already moving but Hank spared her a nod before following behind him.
A guard stopped them from continuing further, and from getting too close to the stage.
"Stall her Charles." Ivy pleaded. All of a sudden, a strange whirring noise started up, a clicking sound made Ivy turn back to the stage to see the sentinels beginning to activate.
Jets emerged from the robot's legs as it began to float up from the stage. The crowd stood to their feet cheering even louder at the display, but Ivy's attention went over to Trask and the confused glance he sent down to the device in his hand. The soldier from the accords looked similarly confused even as he held his salute.
Something else had forced the sentinels to activate.
Suddenly, the Sentinels began firing at police cars and the cheering abruptly turned to frightened screams matched in volume only but the sounds of the gunfire in the air
"Erik!" Charles yelled out to the sky in frustration. All around them people were running, scrabbling out of the line of fire, luckily the sentinels weren't targeting the civilians gathered around, only to policemen and their vehicles, likely to stop any form of resistance. That didn't mean that the people were safe from the explosions that rocked the cars.
Ivy paused, as Charles began rolling away, her eyes settling on a small group of people trying to scurry away, particularly on a woman clutching her baby close to her chest. Another police car exploded in front of the group but none of the debris hit them, instead a tree was unnaturally bent and stretched in front of the explosion absorbing it.
"Get out of here," a nearby voice demanded, the others immediately moved to do as told but the woman paused turning to the young woman still having her arms outstretched, "Run!" she demanded again.
"Thank you." the young woman said breathlessly before rushing off. Ivy nodded to herself before turning back around, finding the field all but empty save for the sentinels still hovering and firing at any officer or vehicle that still moved. Charles was still rolling himself as fast as he could across the lawn. And a sudden shadow overtook the field.
Wait what?
Ivy looked up to the sky to see a circular shape floating towards the grounds, in the center of it hovered a very familiar figure.
"Erik?" she whispered in disappointment as the stadium drew even closer and the sentinels rose up to meet him in the middle.
"Ivy!" a voice called out and she turned spying Hank and Logan mere feet away and she immediately rushed to them briefly hugging Hank's side.
"Okay kid?" Logan asked, quickly sparing her a glance.
"Yeah."
"Alright we gotta find," he began but suddenly paused cutting himself off as he glanced upwards then back down, "Charles!" he screamed in fear.
They watched as the professor too looked up to the sky before suddenly turning and throwing himself from his wheelchair, seconds before large pieces of scaffolding fell where he once was. They could hear him groan even from the distance they were at, but that was fine, at least the pain meant that he was still alive.
They ran in his direction dodging pieces of debris as they went, the stadium suddenly dropped forcing them to stop as the ground shook and puffs of smoke rose up impeding their vision.
When the dust finally cleared there was a large piece of concrete in between them and where Erik had landed, but it was easy enough to climb over, and see Erik standing there in front of the White House regarding it with disdain a sentinel behind him standing guard.
"I thought those things weren't supposed to have any metal in them?" Ivy asked Hank who shook his head.
"He must've done something to them," he said quickly, "Hey," he called looking over her head to Logan, "I'm probably not supposed to ask this kinda thing,but in the future, do I make it?"
"No," Logan answered immediately, shaking his head much to Hank's horror, "But we can change that, right?" he added somewhat optimistically.
Hank whipped off his glasses taking deep breaths that turned into growls, as blue hair began to sprout from his face, his body growing larger stretching in his suit until some of the seams were forced to pop. Once he was fully transformed into the Beast he growled loudly baring his teeth and drawing Erik's attention to them. He turned to the sentinel standing behind him, and with a single command that they couldn't hear, it turned its attention to them.
The sentinel turned to them raising its arm before sending an array of bullets in their direction, they ducked back behind their barricade, as soon as the bullets stopped Logan was up and over the barricade, by that time the sentinel had already flown over to properly block their path before taking a swipe at the man with its massive fist. Logan dodged and charged the sentinel just as it tried to fire at him once more. He jammed his claws into the rotating gears of the gun, crying out as it shifted and pulled at his bones. Logan managed to dislodge himself and drew back, but not before the sentinel's heavy leg kicked and sent him soaring into a pile of rubble.
Hank growled again and jumped onto the sentinels back at the same time Ivy waved her hands and dozens of vines shot up from the ground wrapping around the robots legs and arms, immobilizing it as much as she could while Hank tried to rip out some of it's wiring.
"Go we got this." Hank yelled to Logan who immediately did as told.
Working together Ivy held the sentinel down while Hank bit into the back of its head yanking out the wires, Ivy forced some of the vines upwards into the inside of the machine hoping to pull at something vital.
A strange humming met her ears, and she turned to see the staircases leading to the balcony of the White House had tilted forward the windows shattered a second later before the front of the White House exploded, as an enormous crate burst from within.
Ivy flinched and her focus slipped long enough for the sentinel to break free from her vines, grab Hank from his shoulder tossing him into an abandoned police car before kicking her to the side.
When she sat up gathering her bearings the sentinel was raining down blows onto the car where Hank was trapped and the front of the crate was ripped off exposing the secret servicemen within all gathered around the president. Their weapons hovering in the air above Erik pointed at them.
With a wave of his hand the live news cameras that had been rolling since Nixon's speech began, turned towards him.
"You built these weapons to destroy us," he began with an air of confidence, but also anger, pointing to the Sentinels. "Why? Because you are afraid of our gifts. Because we are different. Humanity has always feared that which is different."
"Well, I am here to tell you, to tell the world: you are right to fear us," Ivy turned as the sentinel began to retreat in its attack on Hank and figured his big brain must have come up with some kind of solution, either that or he was dead.
"We are the future. We are the ones who will inherit this earth, and anyone who stands in our way will suffer the same fate as these men," he motioned to the president and his advisors, "You see before you. Today was meant to be a display of your power. Instead I give you a glimpse of the devastation my race can unleash." The sentinel began to advance towards her again and she pulled vines from the earth to hold it back, "Let this be a warning to the world. And to my mutant brothers and sisters out there," Erik's tone became more sincere but still aggressive, "I say this, no more hiding, no more suffering. You have lived in the shadows in shame and fear for too long. Come out, join me. Fight together in the brotherhood of our kind. A new tomorrow that starts today,"
As he finished, there was a loud commotion from the metal room. The sound of gasps filled the silence as the President walked out.
"Mr. President! Sir!"
The Secret Servicemen grabbed him to bring him back into the safe room, but he pulled out of their grasp.
"Stand down!" Nixon commanded, standing up and walking over to Erik as if he had any power in this situation at all. He faced Erik and then pointed a finger at Erik. "You want to make a statement? Kill me? Fine! But spare everyone else!" he ordered.
"Very heroic Mr. President," Erik spat condescending, "But you had no intention of sparring any of us. The future of our species begins now." one of the guns floating down steadily aiming at the president.
Then Ivy got an idea, probably a stupid one, definitely a dangerous one, but if the glimpse of the second president she saw still sitting safely beside Trask was real, well then Raven would need at least a moment more.
"Erik!" she shouted, maybe it was the desperation in her voice that made him turn his head, maybe it was just her, either way she dropped her hands the vines wrapped around the sentinels dropping along with them as the sentinel charged at her once again. In a split second she saw real fear cross Erik's face before he raised a hand and drew it into a fist, parts of the robot began dropping leaving a trail behind it before finally those yellow eyes stopped glowing and it fell to the ground just feet in front of her.
Raven had taken the distraction and pulled a gun out, shooting Erik, the bullet just grazing the side of his neck while transforming into her blue-skinned natural form at the same time. There were audible gasps in the safe room as Raven dropped the plastic gun at her side, Erik dropped to a knee on the grass and covered his neck, before smirking up at her, "You used to be a better shot," he commented smugly.
"Trust me, I still am," Raven responded instantly, before running up to him and kicking him in the head, then using the butt of the gun to slam against his head, knocking him unconscious.
Ivy let out a relieved breath then turned to a gasp as Raven turned back towards the safe room, aiming the gun inside. The men in the room shifted moving to protect the president leaving Trask wide open for a shot. But suddenly all the men froze and Raven looked confused, then angry.
"Ivy!" Hank called as he ran over, blood and dirt all over his face. His glasses were gone, and his clothing was ripped and stained and he was barefoot. But ,"You're alive!" she exclaimed as he helped her up hugging her quickly before he tugged her behind him to where Charles was still trapped under the debris.
The telepath looked calm though, a hand held to his temple as he spoke to his sister staring off into the air, "All you've done so far is save the lives of these men. You can show them a better path," he explained Hank and Ivy exchanged looks as he tried his hardest to lift the concrete off of Charles, it wasn't budging.
"Shut her down, Charles," Hank encouraged.
"I've been trying to control you ever since the day we met and look what that's got us. Everything that happens now is in your hands. I have faith in you, Raven."
With that Charles broke the connection and things were set to motion once again, the blue-skinned redhead looked down at the ground and reluctantly dropped her gun to ground.
"He's all yours, Charles," Raven called loudly as she walked away pulling the helmet from Erik's head as she did. Charles reacted instantly placing a hand back at his temple and waking Erik up, pulling him to his feet, like a puppeteer he used Erik's powers to remove the concrete pinning him down.
"If you let them have me, I'm as good as dead. You know that," Erik pointed out, once his mind was in his own control again and after Hank had tugged Charles up to his feet.
"I know," Charles said with no emotion in his voice.
Erik then turned to Ivy and they shared a look that spoke more than their words could, she'd be seeing him again, their bond was too strong for them not to. Then he turned to his former best friend and nodded at his head, "Goodbye old friend," he said.
"Goodbye, Erik," Charles responded.
Erik opened his hands and lifted himself up, floating away into the cloudy sky. By the time he had disappeared Raven was already gone too.
"You sure you should let them go?" Hank asked, as Ivy went to Charles' other side taking some of his weight to help support him.
Charles drew in a deep breath, "Yes, I have hope for them. There's going to be a time, Hank, when we are all together," Charles explained, with a soft smile.
"What about Logan?" Ivy asked seen as how she didn't see what became of the man after he'd charged at Erik. Charles only smiled.
To almost no one's surprise the secret service and officers present wanted to speak with the three of them, luckily it was brief, surprisingly the president ended up actually thanking Charles for his help. More surprising then that though, was the fact that Trask was arrested, apparently the Major that they'd seen around had some serious dirt on him. But since he was the man that caused Logan's mind to slip, she still didn't trust him.
It took the rest of the morning and into the afternoon to free themselves from the stadium, even with Charles' intervention. It was evening by the time they'd made it back to Westchester. Ivy drove back to her marital home in almost a daze, just desperate to rest in her own bed for the first time in days, she would have stayed at the mansion but after all that at happened she wanted to be as wrapped up in Alex's scent as she could get, she parked the car in the driveway and started up the pathway, and it was truly a testament to her exhaustion that she didn't notice him until she was nearly on top of him.
She saw his boot clad feet first, slowly following the lines of his legs upwards, he was bent at the knees sitting on the steps of the house with his arms tossed over them, his wedding band glinting in the fading light, his arms more tanned than she remembered barring a few silver scars that weren't there when he left. His shoulders and chest more broad, his jawline even sharper than it was when he left, something she didn't think was possible.
But his eyes, God his eyes, the same ocean blue that she could get lost in for hours if she let herself, perhaps a bit more haunted, the bags beneath them showing that he needed much more sleep than he was bound to get anytime soon. His eyes that were studying her just as intently as she was him. His lips finally twitched up in what almost could have been a smile.
"You changed the locks." He pointed out, his deep voice wrapping around her. The few phone-calls they shared paled in comparison to the real thing.
"Hank's idea," Ivy admitted with a watery laugh, her voice much more emotional than she realized, "A couple break-ins around the neighbourhood had us both a little on edge."
Alex nodded standing to his feet in an easy motion, he towered over her as he always had, he kept his eyes on hers as he reached down and carefully extracted the keys from her grasp. Then his other hand rose up and gently brushed her hair behind her ear, he watched himself do it like he had to make sure while Ivy kept her eyes on his, scared to so much as blink for fear that he might disappear. He turned his eyes back to hers as his hand cradled her cheek running his calloused thumb along her cheekbone.
"Hi Babydoll." He whispered after long moments spent just barely touching her again, his lips a breath away from hers.
"Alex." She whispered almost in a whine before he finally ended both their torture and swopped down pressing his lips to hers. Ivy rose up onto her toes wrapping her arms around his neck in an attempt to get closer to him, feeling her heart sing in response to his touch.
He dropped his arms to wrap them both tight around her waist before he stood to his full height taking her with him as he picked her up and then turned to blindly carry her up the steps to the house pressing her against the door as he pulled away long enough to shove the key into the latch and unlock the door to his home for the first time in three long years, adjusting his grip on his wife before his pushed the door open and took them both inside, barely having the mind to pull his canvas bag in behind him before he shut and locked the door behind them.
Fin-Fish Jun-Tenshi: It's so beautifully done.
Ivana Bocanegra: I'll be posting an update on Aphrodite and Steve's future real soon over on TPWR.
Alrighty folks that brings us to the end of DOFP. I really liked how it turned out and Ivy's involvement, hope you guys did too.
Alex is back! I'm so excited to write him and Ivy back together. Should be all smooth sailing from here on out right? *evil smirk*.
I've got a few chapters in mind before we dive into X-Men Apocalypse but I'd love to hear your ideas as always. Especially when it comes to that scene. You know the one I mean.
As always let me know what you think and what you'd like to see in the future.
Stay safe everyone.