AN: Started this seven years ago before Days of Future Past came out and had an outline written. I will follow it and finish.
Chapter Fourteen
An Evil Man
Claremont, New Hampshire
"The pawns often go first."
Charles didn't have to think on the metaphor to understand his meaning. This take-over of a school was a trap, only the trap was not for them. All of this had been a show. A wolf leading the shepherd away from his flock. He knew why Shield's followers ran off one by one and why some of them were missing here from the start. He'd even heard the rapidly rotating blades of their transport and disregarded it.
The real attack was elsewhere. A diversion for them was their objective in this place. His students and the Brotherhood members left behind were in grave danger.
Shield seemed to identify the comprehension dawning on his face of what was happening. Maybe the attack hadn't happened yet, Surge and the others likely there awaiting their backup before beginning the assault. However, the electricity manipulator did appear the type who could more than hold his own.
"Ah, you understand now what you've made me do."
"You have people at the school or on their way," Charles said as statement, unable to avoid the horror seeping into his voice. "That was your intention all along."
"Mhm." Smith smirked in Erik's direction when he fixed a look promising death on the Reapers' leader. "Perhaps your queen should have kept his priorities in order. The king isn't supposed to protect himself."
"I can take care of myself," he informed, put off by the suggestion he required a keeper.
Immediate disagreement.
"No, you can't. You care for others too much. Right now you're thinking of jumping me to get the gun. If I don't have this weapon, none of your friends get hurt. Damn the consequences of approaching me for yourself."
"Are you planning on hurting any of them?"
"Oh, I will, Charles Xavier. But today, just you."
Erik started forward and Smith took a step closer to Charles, positioning the gun to line up with his forehead. He was still a good four feet away. Azazel got real twitchy then, and Emma looked pissed. His greatest concern was that Raven would attempt something rash to remove him from the current threat on his life. She didn't often think things through. Like abandoning him that day on the beach. Was she happy with her choice and how things turned out? He silently prayed she would not be so foolish and try anything.
"Think you can get all the way over here, before I pull the trigger from quite near?"
Westchester County, New York
Trouble was at their door. Danger outside the manor, coming for them.
"What's your name?" he shouted over the chaos of helicopters and explosions on the other side of the front entrance.
"Monica!" she yelled, jogging across the foyer to stand with him.
"Okay. Monica, I need you to get anyone under eighteen out safely the back way. Hikou will go with you."
"Alright. John, Michael, Elouise, that's you guys. Come with me."
The three were too scared to argue. Monica appeared a little frightened of the sudden assault on their safe house herself. They went without a fuss. Hank released his relief in a heavy exhale and surveyed the damage, tensing up again. He abandoned the foyer to go part of the way with Hikou and the others.
They'd been attacked inside to start. One minute the pretty woman they offered tea while she waited for a tow truck was totally unsuspicious and friendly. The next moment she was standing, twirling a brown lock of hair and saying she was happy they turned off the sensors for her to come on the property. It was necessary and good to know their telepath was away. Both were things Hank blurted out when she'd asked, much to Alex's annoyance. But he couldn't help what he told her. It was a compulsion to speak impossible to resist.
Hank and Alex stood as well, and she pulled out a gun and shot Havok in the arm. After the gun fired, chaos ensued. Sarah and Aki came running in, the woman had run out past them, and then the first blast was heard. They'd been in battles and understood they were being attacked.
They were nearing the rear entrance when he decided he needed to return to the foyer. He ran down one of the hallways, cutting through the kitchen. The front yard was where the primary action was going on. He could hear the noise of fights in progress. Shifting into his blue, beast form, he readied for whatever he would find outside.
Something made him stop. He turned back and used all four limbs to race on the walls and ceiling to the main hallway leading to the back. He was greeted by a furry body slamming into his, shoving them inside the kitchen he'd passed. Skidding across the floor, he rose to meet the oversized wolf growling guttural at him.
Fenrir, Hank recalled. The shapeshifter who favored his wolf form most. He was fairly sure he smelled the creature's presence in the house and hadn't realized he'd done it. Screams from the front now. This was no time to have a contest of fierce stares. He bared his teeth at the other and Fenrir reacted, launching himself at him. They collided and Fenrir fought to gnaw at his throat while he tried to use his claws to scratch.
He swiped a clawed hand across the wolf's back and went on to bring his forehead down on the wolf's head. Hank's glasses broke upon impact with an audible cracking sound. He probably should have taken them off first. His attacks staggered Fenrir and he watched what his opponent would do.
The ceiling above the dining room table shook violently, threatening to crash on the both of them crouched below it. Massive cracks were spreading on the ceiling. The house vibrated.
Hank gawked in surprise, disbelieving the giant hole that appeared in the side of the house. A hole at least two people wide was created when the mutant made of rock was thrown into the house wall. The light fixture on the ceiling swung completely down from its hanging arc, nailing Fenrir and punting him out of the house through the new exit.
Huh. Convenient and good riddance. While the beast in him was thrilled to fight, Fenrir was strong and probably stronger than him. Okay, time to refocus.
He turned around to go out front and smelled a coppery scent. Hank saw what he missed during his mad dash on the ceiling. The young woman he'd learned the name of a few minutes ago. Monica. How old could she have been? Eighteen? His chest ached. He hated death. He especially hated the young dying. Briefly he thought about Darwin, about Banshee. Sean's death was too recent to not hope to deny it once a day.
Although her throat was ripped out, chest shredded to bloody strips, he stooped to feel for a pulse. Nothing. It's what he wished he felt. Out of the various emotions swirling through his head, he grappled to hang onto anger. When it solidified in his mind, stretching along his chest and limbs, he ran for the battle outside.
Claremont, New Hampshire
"Participation. Is this what you expect from me?" Charles asked.
"I do believe the word you're searching for is dying."
He shook his head. "You don't want to kill me. You like to play with me too much."
"No, that would be my benefactor," Shield admitted. "He's interested in your name more than I."
Charles considered his words and stuck by the initial supposition. "However true that might have been, now you can't help yourself. You want something, you'll have it. Isn't that how you psychopaths think?"
"Charles," Erik warned out of concern, although annoyance tinged his voice. "Can we not antagonize the lunatic aiming a gun at your skull?"
He smiled a bit because of the wording. They could be similar sometimes. It made the differences heartbreaking.
The gun pushed to his forehead as reminder it was there. He eyed the finger flexing against the trigger. One tiny slip, a slight squeeze, and his brain would be all over the concrete rooftop. Charles didn't want to die, but it would be naive to believe he never seriously considered death a possible result of his choices.
"You are going to die, Charles. As much fun as it's been, I won't make the mistakes of others in the past. Your mind, as you are now, threatens my ambition."
"Hey!" Angel shouted, calling attention to herself. She slowly approached Charles and Shield, hands held up to indicate her unarmed state. "I need to say something."
Westchester County, New York
"Hey! Come on! Damn it." Havok released the man's lifeless body to the ground.
From his crouched position, he examined the situation. He'd taken out the airborne chopper piloted by a human, as far as he could tell, while the other helicopter landed to avoid the same fate. The showy, electric man from the navy dock was doing most of the damage. He remained elusive with the invisible chick glued to his side.
There was a lot of back and forth combat on the west side of the lawn between Brotherhood members and a half dozen mutants in black military gear he'd never seen before. It was loud which was not great, and the electric fires spreading everywhere had to be stopped. Fires perpetuated by some government types in suits. A pair of them were directing where the electricity should be utilized to destroy the mansion.
Regen ran past him a fair distance away and threw himself bodily into the granite guy. Actually, that was what he was called, he thought. Granite.
Throwing into what was rock? Historically not smart. Regen dropped hard clutching his shoulder.
Havok let his gaze trail down to his own shoulder where blood still leaked. The woman who shot him and sparked all of this violence disappeared sometime in the last twenty minutes. His gaze moved back toward Regen. Great. Now two of them were down an arm.
His searching look locked onto Hikou, Prophet, and a male Brotherhood member moving in to help Regen. Hikou held his metallic bat while Prophet and the other didn't have weapons. Frowning, he called out to her. She and Hikou halted to see him.
"Douzo!" Prophet yelled, urging Hikou to go ahead without her.
She jogged over to him. "Are you okay?"
"Fine, considering. Listen, we need to take out the electricity user."
"Surge? Yeah. He keeps drawing from the power lines. If we take out his source..."
Havok sought out the power lines and grinned. "Brilliant! See? This is why you're part of our fantastic team of misfits."
Claremont, New Hampshire
"Disruptors. That is what you all are, lady. Even the man you call master is just another malcontent."
"I wouldn't say I call him master..." Angel trailed off, continuing to move nearer to the powerful mutant leaders she had her eyes on.
Shield wasn't finished talking. Charles dared to take a step back from the gun. He went unnoticed while Smith gave his attention to Angel. He did clearly love to hear himself talk.
"You people think because you have some kind of mutation or ability, it gives you the right to exert your power over everyone. The power lies not in the mutation, but in the mind. This is why I believe you will fail in your crusade, Magneto. You claim to think. In truth, all you do is react."
Charles flinched with Erik. In a big way his old friend flinched. His eyes were flickering across the rooftop at present, body trembling as he fought down every impulse in his body that screamed to crush Shield into the ground. He worried for what might happen.
Angel interrupted the rising tension.
"It's Erik right now, I think. Can I say something?"
Shield made a discontented noise. "I believe you are."
Erik stared at her. Charles was staring at her. Everyone who knew her was staring. What was she doing? Shield continuously glanced from him, to Erik, to Angel. His gaze settled on Angel longest, betraying his interest. Charles would use that. He met Shield's eyes before breaking eye contact to switch attention to the woman, hoping the man would mimic him. He did and also shifted partially in her direction.
Shield waved his free hand at her. "Go on."
She focused her gaze on Charles alone. "I betrayed you. Went to Shaw after you'd come into my life. You found me, showed me I was worth something, and I betrayed you for it. I know that. I've always known that. I've never done a selfless thing in my life. All you do is selfless."
He opened his mouth to protest and disagree, but she concluded her speech with words that confused him quiet.
"My turn."
Her eyes took on a renewed shine as she gave him a sad, yet grateful smile. Angel looked like she was about to cry. The smile widened and it was genuine. That was the bizarre thing.
"Angel!" he cried out when she ran at full speed toward him and Shield.
They hardly registered the action before the woman hurtled into Shield's middle and propelled him backward. His gun arm swung to try and shoot her to stop her motion. She knocked him off balance though, and pushed them past the edge of the roof.
Charles hurried to the edge and peered down. Two crumpled figures lay on the ground below. Angel was crushed under Shield's body, a leg sticking out and misshapen. He ran for the roof exit as fast as he could go. Someone shouted behind him and he ignored it. His mind was singularly focused on getting to Angel.
Nearly at the bottom, he staggered in the stairwell. The rush of his power resuming left him clutching at the railing for balance. He dredged up a center for himself and picked up the minds of police officers entering the campus area, moving to their location. Charles couldn't feel Angel's presence. He ran again.
When he was finally in sight of where Angel was sprawled on the grass, it unnerved him to see Marcus Smith was not here. Using Angel for a landing cushion probably prevented serious injury for the terrorist. A deep anger curled in his belly. But he had to acknowledge she knew what could happen when she sent them over the roof. She got Shield away to keep them safe and restore their powers.
Blood trailed from her mouth and her eyes were closed. In the impact with the ground, the back of her head caved in. Charles was aware she was dead before seeing the damage to her body because he couldn't find her mind. She was gone.
He stopped a few feet from her when the squeal of tires on pavement drew him out of his daze. Car doors slamming, he lifted his gaze to take in the shouts and drawn guns of the police force surrounding the front of the building. His mind wrapped around panicked, confused, and accusatory thoughts of the law enforcement trying to assess his threat level. It mixed with his own feelings of shock, confusion, and grief. It left him grasping in desperation to get away, to find release from too much feeling.
A handful of mutants appeared out of thin air around him and Angel, courtesy of Azazel's restored ability. Panic, uncertainty, and fear spilled over and the police opened fire on them. Charles stared wide-eyed for a heartbeat, and then he was shoved down to the grass, a larger body spread on top of him. He didn't hear bullets hitting anything or passing by.
He forced himself to emerge from his own head so he could see what was happening.
Erik was the one looming over him, keeping him pressed to the ground. He had an arm extended out, successfully halting the bullets in mid-air. He was looking frightfully angered by the attack. Charles tugged on the wrist of the hand pressed against his chest. His friend lowered his eyes to his face for a moment, and he brought his extended hand horizontal and downward. The bullets dropped harmlessly to the grass.
"We have to go," Raven practically commanded. "We have to get to the others. They're not safe."
He was given room to stand, Erik pulling him to his feet. The police were yelling at them to not make any sudden moves. They were stunned their bullets stopped in air but they had a job to do and were determined to do it. Their group quickly connected to one another in preparation to leave, and Charles reached a hand to touch Angel's body.
Vanished in an instant, the police were left to make what they could of the situation. Charles didn't know what to make of everything that just happened, nor everything that happened in the past few weeks. He wished them luck in their troubles.
Westchester County, New York
They appeared in the grassy fields surrounding his mansion, into chaos. A fireball erupted from a decimated portion of his home. Electricity was sparking and shooting out of the area on all sides of the flames.
Charles spied Hikou flying over the mansion and an explosion of sparks that suddenly cut out. A helicopter on the grass, rotor blades spinning, lifted up into the air. A man in a suit dove inside it via the open side door almost a moment too late. The door slammed shut but he detected multiple souls on board using his telepathy to reach for minds.
He absorbed frantic, unafraid thoughts and feelings. Someone screaming interrupted the investigation. A previously unseen helicopter lifted off from behind the vast manor. Checking on the mutants they left behind while the others on either side of him moved forth to assess the situation with their own eyes, he sensed Hank, Beast.
Young Elouise, Michael, and John were unharmed and with Prophet. Hikou had been fighting and was now chasing Surge. Granite and Fenrir battled Havok. Regen stood nearby not fighting or moving. Charles joined his mind briefly to view through his eyes. Blink appeared just long enough to place her hand on another woman. Wavy, brown hair was all he could see with her back to him. They disappeared together.
Regen turned and ran out from his makeshift cover. He was seeing Surge climb into a helicopter preparing for departure. He thought he saw kids in there like Aki and the Brotherhood youths. It was a glimpse. He couldn't be sure. Exiting Regen's mind to explore the helicopter lifting off, a hand on his shoulder brought him to the present and his own situation.
"Charles, they got one of us."
He blinked uncertainly at Raven. Azazel was standing on his other side and put a hand on his shoulder too. No warning, they teleported inside the mansion. He coughed on the unexpected smell of sulfur and spotted a wall splattered in blood. Oh no. No.
Raven knelt beside a young, black woman. A girl, really. Far too young to die. She'd been clawed up, bitten. Fenrir must be responsible. Charles felt tired. Mutants killing mutants. This may not be the war Magneto wanted, but it was the war he would get.