Christie rubbed her eyes as she slowly woke up from her sleep. The Quinjet was still flying itself, and the sky was now turning into a pretty purple colour. It was evening time - but she had no idea what was happening with the rest of the Avengers and Ultron. She didn't even have anyone to ask - all of S.H.I.E.L.D's comms were still fried and she knew that it could be weeks if not months until they were back up and running again. She didn't mind though, the peaceful silence was what she needed so that she could recuperate and gather her thoughts properly. "Quinny, how long left until landing time?" Christie yawned, standing up so that she could stretch her slender legs.
"Whitey, there are 15 minutes till landing," came the smooth robotic voice back. Christie's eyebrows shot up in surprise and she sat herself back down in the pilot's seat, attempting to shake the nerves that were now creeping up on her.
No matter how much she wanted to abandon this entire trip, she stuck by it, because she knew that this was the quickest way to find her sister again.
She landed the jet 15 minutes later in the field that she recognised well. Naturally, as soon as she stepped out, she was suddenly surrounded by a number of mutant kids.
Again.
"Hello…hi there you wonderful…people," she waved at them a little awkwardly, walking towards them as the jet doors closed behind her, "could one of you lead me to…well, any professor available, please?" A young boy gasped and held up his hand, stepping forward and taking Christie by her shoulder before whispering,
"Hold tight!"
"To what-?" Christie began to ask - but she soon found out, ending up in her father's office before she could even register what had happened.
All of a sudden, she felt sick to her stomach. The ground felt like it was spinning relentlessly under her feet, like delayed motion sickness.
"Damien," came the stern voice that Christie already knew belonged to Storm, "you know you're meant to knock!"
"Sorry Miss, it seemed like an emergency," Damien apologised with flushed cheeks before disappearing again.
Storm stared at Christie for a second - then she knew.
"Christie," she breathed, her heart beginning to sink, assuming the worst already. She hadn't seen or heard from Ashley in over a year now, so she could only imagine. "What's going on-?"
"I…I need to see my dad, please," Christie put it out there plain and simple. No point beating around the bush. "The kid's right, it really is an emergency and I need to see him like…now. I'm here alone. My jet is literally parked out back in your field." Storm stood up and made her way over to her slowly. But Christie could see that there was an undeniable look of devastation wobbling in her eyes and it concerned her. "What?" she frowned at Storm hesitantly.
"Christie…your father…he's ill," she broke the news as gently as possible. "I'll take you to see him but…just be aware." Christie blinked at her words.
She didn't feel any different.
"Okay," was all she hummed back expressionlessly. Storm recoiled slightly at the lack of emotion, but gently steered her out of the room regardless. Together, they walked in silence to the infirmary that Charles was being held in. It was a white set of rooms, incredibly clean, smelt like antibacterial and was well laid out. Storm carefully opened one of the ward doors with her handprint and it slid open - revealing a sickly looking Charles propped up in bed. He had lost a lot of weight and his skin was almost paperlike, but he still had those same friendly eyes that lit up considerably once he saw his youngest daughter.
"Christie," he beamed as Storm walked her through before leaving her to it. Christie uncomfortably hovered at the foot of his bed, unsure of whether she should hug him or shake his hand or…
"Hey," she decided to blink a few times instead. "I see that you're…sick? I'm…uh…sorry to hear."
"It's fine, Christie. You can leave the awkward small talk, I know how much you despise it," Charles chuckled weakly, shaking his head. "You and Ashley really are one in the same." Christie shook her head too, but in a rapid, swift movement - as the mention of her sister's name had literally sent immediate shivers down her spine.
"W-what happened to you?" she pulled herself together to ask him.
She had to at least attempt to sound concerned.
"We don't actually know," Charles answered her honestly, looking helpless for a split second. "I was using Cerebro and…I simply…fell ill. It was all rather sudden." Christie swore to herself in her mind. That was the very last thing she wanted to hear. She had already assumed that he of all people would be able to track down Ashley using the machine - but clearly not.
"So…so now what, you can't use it at all?" she clarified, pushing her hair away from her face and slamming herself into a chair with an irritable huff.
"Not currently, n-" Charles immediately stopped what he was saying as it dawned on him. "Oh…oh no. She's missing again, isn't she?"
"Well, she didn't even run away this time…she was taken," Christie corrected him, taking out one of her sleek devices and projecting the holographic images of the horrendous crime scene that was Steve's room into the air. Charles stared at the images uncomfortably, unable to speak for once. "Pools of blood left on the floor - but when tested we've discovered that it didn't belong to Ashley. Well, not all of it at least. There was a violent struggle, that's for sure. She clearly put up quite a fight before she went."
"When did this happen?" Charles asked quickly.
"Last night - I travelled all the way down here in the hopes that you could help before I even attempt to do this by myself. I don't even know where to begin, given that I don't know who has her for sure," Christie mumbled, zapping the pictures back in the device and shoving it back into her pocket. Truthfully, she hated looking at it too. "I knew something was up with her from when the witch woman messed with her head."
"Wanda? The mutant twin?" Charles blurted out, now looking even more worried than he did before. "She successfully got in her head?"
"She did indeed," Christie confirmed gravely.
"How did that happen? I specifically told Ashley to be careful with her!" Charles stressed irritably.
"Ashley kinda…well actually she kinda pushed me out of the way so that she got the manipulation instead," Christie admitted, lowering her steely grey eyes so that he didn't have to see her sadness at the memory of it. She already missed her so much, so she was trying not to internally take the blame for what had happened but it was hard. "What…what does Wanda actually do?"
"She uncovers bad thoughts, dark thoughts, or fiddles with what you're afraid of to weaken you. It will effect everyone differently, but can be quite painful. It's how she gets what she wants out of you - she wants you to be uneasy and feel unsafe," Charles explained quietly. Christie released the shaky breath that she was holding as she slowly came to terms with what Ashley had done.
"Did…did Ashley know that?"
"She did," Charles confirmed. "I warned her a few days ago because for mutants, the effects can last a lot longer and can set them back a few paces."
"Oh god, the stupid girl. S-she was saving me from the pain of losing Loki," Christie sniffed, finally understanding.
Now she felt even worse.
"Ashley knew exactly which part of my life Wanda would unlock and screw with, so she saved me from having to feel it all over again." Charles let out a small but sad chuckle.
It sounded like his eldest, to be fair.
"She's become very protective over you…and clearly you, her. I am so proud of you both," he spoke honestly and earnestly, looking Christie directly in the eye to show that he was being truthful.
"Oh please, don't be proud of me," Christie mumbled, sounding absolutely disgusted in herself. "I'm the one that allowed her to get taken away in the first bloody place."
"No, Christie. You're the one who killed a man just because he said that he was going to 'get his hands on her' in an inappropriate manner," Charles corrected her with a knowing smile. Christie's mouth dropped open. "Yes, Phil still sends me updates on you both. It was a little over the top - but I understand that you're an assassin and…"
"Yes, I kill people, Dad," Christie put it blandly. "Particularly people who threaten the ones I love." Charles looked at her for a few moments before reaching into his bedside drawer and pulling out a device of his own - a much older, clunkier one. He switched it on, pulled up the arial and handed it over to her. Christie took it from him with a baffled frown.
"Cheers…what's this, sorry?"
"It's an elemental energy reader - something a good friend of mine designed when Ashley was far younger and a lot wilder…back when running away was her brand," Charles explained with a long, drawn out sigh. "It picks up any traces of elemental energy that are beyond a 'natural reading' and directs you towards it." Christie stared at the screen in wonder, completely mind blown at the fact that something like this existed in the first place.
"It's basically a tracking device," Christie muttered, glancing up at him with a small frown. "Does this actually work?"
"It works…but it is a little temperamental," Charles explained. "The signal is rather slow, so it tends to show where Ashley has been, not where she currently is. It also only works if Ashley has demonstrated her mutation at quite an excessive amount - so if she's walking around normally, it probably won't show up on the screen."
"Oh. Still kinda useful. Why haven't you used it more often, then?" Christie blinked in confusion. "Surely this would've cleared up a lot of your…past problems."
"I suppose as she got older…you begin to let go a little more. She didn't want to be found a lot of the time because she never got taken away, she ran away - but now…now she needs to be found," Charles nodded firmly. Christie nibbled on her bottom lip in thought, flipping the device round in her hands.
"I could get Stark to update this," she mumbled to herself, "but there's no time. How does it work?"
"You turn it on and let it load up…it will depict a map, showing different energy sources around the country and to a larger extent - the world. Remember that hurricanes, electrical storms and bush fires are all sources of energy - but the largest number of a natural energy source will hit is around 50EVs," Charles informed her quickly as Christie stared at the slightly dusty screen, watching it load up.
"EVs?" she frowned up at him briefly.
"Energy volts," Charles filled her in. "Ashley should ring on that scale, on a bad day, at about 1,200. That's how you'll know if it's her or not."
"You're telling me Ashley's more powerful than an electrical storm?" Christie let out a short scoff of disbelief.
"You've clearly never seen her power attacks at their worst," Charles raised an amused eyebrow. "Now, please get going. You have a sister to go and find." Christie glanced down at the screen again to see there was a section of the map lighting up, flashing as if it were an emergency. It appeared to be somewhere in Germany, and the reading was 1,113.
"Germany?" Christie mumbled in confusion. "Weird - that's gotta be Hydra but I thought we'd gotten that base down already." She hopped from her chair and shoved the device into her jacket pocket, already knowing exactly where she had to be. "Thanks, Dad. You may have just saved her yourself."
"No, you had the initiative to come down here in the first place. Don't dismiss your part in this, Christie. You've done well," Charles corrected her sternly. "Just never give up hope. You will find her, I know you will. I trust you." Christie smiled up at him properly then. She slowly reached out her hand and took his hand in hers, cocking her head to the side.
"Yeah well, I'm not having anyone that I care about die on my watch," she sighed, giving his hand a little squeeze, "so you just make sure that you get better soon, alright?" Charles smiled at her words, understanding that this may have just put an entire decade of hatred and bad blood to bed between them. She gave him one last fleeting look before leaving the ward, running down the infirmary corridors, out the back doors and back to her jet, aware that the mutant students were still watching her. She opened the jet doors and hopped inside, starting up the navigation system as quickly as she possibly could. As she implemented the coordinates of the map, she felt a pair of eyes on her from behind. She turned her head and almost jumped at the sight of a little girl with light blonde pigtails and freckles stood behind her.
She had silently snuck onto the ship, quieter than Christie ever could've done it. "My good lord," Christie breathed, rushing over to her and attempting to put on her sweet face. "Hi honey! You can't be in here, unfortunately…"
"Please could you give this to Natasha Romanoff - say it's from Esme," the girl whispered timidly, holding the paper out with a slightly trembling hand. Christie blinked a few times before taking it from her with a slight nod and slipping it into her pocket. Esme bowed her head in thanks before shuffling off the jet again without another word, leaving Christie standing there completely bewildered.
"How wonderfully strange she is," she frowned to herself, making her way back to the cockpit. "Now, if anyone else wants to interrupt my take off-"
"Christie, wait!" came yet another shout through the door. Christie groaned and turned round again, trudging over to see who was now at the bottom of the jet stairway. She was even more surprised to see that it was Rogue, Logan and Scott clustered together at the first step.
"Well…hello to you all…?" Christie frowned at them.
"Christie, Storm told us that Ashley's missing and we…we wanna help you find her," Rogue practically begged with pleading eyes. Christie rolled her eyes and clamped her hands over her face tiredly.
"Ohhhh let me guess - my dad put you up to this?" she guessed dryly, only shifting her hands down slightly to see their reaction.
"The professor? No, none of us have seen the professor in a while," Scott promised her with his hands risen in the air. "This was our choice. We just…we feel like we owe it to Ashley….and yourself."
"And myself?" Christie repeated in amusement, now moving her hands away. "Dearest, you owe me just about nothing."
"We're still feeling guilty about how we tried to get her back in the first place…and when I say we, I mean them," Logan clarified as he mused towards Rogue and Scott. "So whatever you need - we can help. And the job will be done quicker if we do it with you, trust me."
"Although ultimately, it's up to you," Rogue popped in again - but she already looked devastated, as if she just knew she was going to say no. Christie, however, found herself warming the idea. Although she didn't doubt that she'd be able to take every single one of the HYDRA agents alone, she knew that having help would get it done faster.
Plus, these guys were Ashley's family as much as she was.
"Fine. But hurry up, cos we're leaving now," she nodded, much to their surprise. She spun around on her heel and went back to the cockpit, and, after a few extra moments of stunned silence, they all scrambled over each other to get in. Christie clicked the door shut and securely locked them in. The jet was smaller than the regular ones that the team liked to use, but it just about managed to fit everyone in snuggly.
"D'ya think I could sit with you in the cockpit?" Rogue grinned excitedly, "Scott literally never EVER lets me sit there."
"Yeah, and for good reason?" Scott scoffed as he sat himself on one of the seats with a yawn.
"Sure thing," Christie murmured distractedly. She wasn't really paying attention as she was too busy watching the maps configure where to go in relation to the energy device. "Alright according to this fancy lil energy tracker here, we've got a reasonably lengthy journey to make. Well, a good few hours at least." She sat herself down in the pilot's seat and got the controls ready for takeoff before remembering something else. "Oh! What about Storm?"
"She's the one that's running the school whilst your dad is sick," Logan filled Christie in, sucking in both of his cheeks to prepare himself for the flight. He hated planes. "She wanted to come…but she couldn't."
"Understood," Christie muttered to herself as the jet gradually lifted off the ground, and smoothly glided off into the air.
"Woah, this is a pretty sweet ride," Scott nodded, clearly more than impressed.
"Yeah? I'll tell Tony Stark you said that," Christie smirked back through the little rearview mirror above her, watching Scott's face completely fall at the mention of his name.
"Oh this is his jet? Then…it's pretty sh*t," Scott shrugged as he rested his head against the wall. Christie and Rogue couldn't help but smirk at his sudden change of heart, the two of them shaking their heads.
"So what's been going on in the Avengers world then?" Rogue asked Christie intriguingly with her eyes still focussed on the view in front of her.
"Ah," Christie sighed, "you know…the usual. Stark accidentally created an AI robot that was initially created to protect the world but soon decided that it wanted to destroy it instead, the robot hired like…two scarily powerful mutants, one with super speed and one who had these mind control abilities and some red energy blocking stuff that came out of her hands…they both pretty much f*cked up the team and I THINK I left the group with some red guy with a gem in his head after being birthed out of a cradle - but I can't be too sure, I pretty much left early to come and do…well, this." The group all blinked at her in a deadly silence.
"Well damn," Scott finally whistled.
"F*CK. Do you guys ever SLEEP?" Logan grunted.
"Pssh. Barely," Christie scoffed back amusedly.
