Chapter Two
My world stopped at those three little words. Such short, seemingly insignificant words. My mind instantly tried to reject them, but they stuck, echoing over and over in my mind. Sean, my Sean, couldn't possibly be dead!
"How did you know?" I asked Logan quietly, but my glare warned him against giving me anything less than a full answer.
He sighed, looking away from me before answering. "I was supposed to make it back here in time to save y-… both of them. Charles told me that, and I was supposed to be here in time to stop anything from happening to both of them. But Kitty, the mutant who sent me back, she warned me that the further back I went, the less precise her aim was. The best we could hope for was the summer of '69, and here I am. Clearly too late."
Even for the piercing ache in my chest, I was still mindful of the little boy in my arms. I stood, shoved him at Er-Magneto, and walked toward the door. He gave a squeak of surprise, then cried, "Ama! Va, Ama!"
"Shh, Kurt, Ama needs some time to herself." Magneto assuring the child was the last thing I heard before the door swung shut.
Looking back, I was never able to remember the trip. But I found myself in the music room, locking the door before heading straight to the piano. And then I let everything out. The pain, the anger, the disbelief, the worry, everything I felt came out in my music. The tiniest part of my brain remembered to be grateful that the boys had soundproofed the room, which of course brought back the reminder of what I'd just lost.
I played for more than an hour before I ran out of tears and anger to fuel my music. My hands slipped from the keyboard, and my head took their place. Until a rattle at the door sent me shooting up in my seat.
Magneto walked through the door, closing it behind him. "I thought you would be playing," he said, looking confused.
"I was," I told him, standing up and walking towards the door. "The boys soundproofed it for me years ago. Excuse me."
"Scha-"
I viciously cut him off, glaring with everything in me. "Don't call me that. Don't you dare call me that!"
"Bianca-"
"No, you don't get to come back here and pretend like nothing happened. Like you didn't leave us. You left us, Erik. You left to go on your little revenge crusade, so don't come in and act just the same. Nothing is the same with you. You know, I haven't worn metal in over six years," I told him, daring him to understand my meaning.
His arm dropped from the doorknob as the color faded from his face, and I pushed past him. I made my way to my rooms, where more tears found me, born of heartbreak and anger, anguish and rage.
…
A knock on the door preceded Charles, and I contemplated ignoring it. I knew he would open the door anyway, however, so I simply sighed and invited him in. His cane entered first, then his sad, understanding smile. "I'm not going to talk about it, Charles, so don't ask," I warned him.
"You know me too well, my friend," he said, smiling a bit as he easily maneuvered around the chair and couch to come sit next to me.
I snorted in reply. "After your wife and child, I know you better than anyone else. Now, what is our plan for getting Alex home?"
His smile dimmed. "I'm not entirely sure. Moira's got some contacts still in the CIA, Levine of course, and some others, but I'm not sure how they'll help."
"I can get us into Vietnam," I told him. "I've got a friend who wanted me to do some USO tours. I'll give her a call."
"Won't she be upset when you don't actually do a show?"
I grinned, all teeth. "She's family. She'll help. And if I need to, I can do a show, once we've got Alex."
He nodded once, a bit wary once I'd mentioned, even obliquely, my connection to the family business. But, clearly, his worry for Alex outweighed his distaste for extralegal activities. "Moira will be home in the morning, and then we can fly out as soon as she's here. Can you arrange it by then?"
"I'll give Lucia a call tonight. She's in Los Angeles, so she'll not be home just yet. What'll we do with the children? I know there's only five, well, seven with David and Kurt, but we can't go traipsing through the jungles of Vietnam with them in tow."
That made Charles's lips quirk briefly. "Petra and Suzanne will stay with the children. All of them."
"Have you talked to Hank?" I pushed, knowing he most likely hadn't.
He sighed, proving my suspicions correct. "He's working, Bianca. We can't keep him from that."
"Hank is an adult, Charles. And he deserves to know that his brother is in danger," I argued. "And if you don't tell him, I will."
He sighed again. "He'd probably take it better from you, anyway."
I chuckled darkly. "I've been told I'm a mother duck." The memory didn't bring any joy. "I'll call him. Tell the others to be ready in the morning."
"You just don't want to talk to either of them," he pointed out wryly, but got up, anyway, closing the door behind him.
Moving to the table, I reached for the telephone. The operator connected me with Stark Industries, whose operator then connected me to the lab. And then a familiar voice came across the line. "Hello?"
A tiny, happy warmth settled in my chest, just from hearing from one of my boys. "Hi, Hank. How are you?"
"Bianca! I'm well, how are you? How is everything at the school? Is Charles alright? Did he hurt himself again?"
I had to laugh at his rapid-fire questions, so typical of his genius mind. "Everyone at the school is just fine, dear. And yes, Charles is fine, or at least I think he is. But you know him. He probably wouldn't say anything even if he had hurt himself."
"Good, good," he said distractedly. I could hear him continue to tinker with something in the background, bringing another smile to my face. "So, is something wrong? I mean, you don't usually call outside of your weekly checkups, and we talked two days ago."
"Hank, that was five days ago, and technically last week," I said with a smile.
A pause, then, "Really? Huh, I guess I've just been busy. Mr. Stark really likes my ideas, and we've been working on finetuning the rockets."
That warm feeling spread, pride in my boy's genius. I may not have given birth to him, but I had been more his mother in the past seven years than his own mother had his entire life. "I'm glad you're enjoying your work, but you can't forget to sleep sometime, and eat."
"I know," he said sheepishly.
I smiled again, but it was short-lived. I did have to tell him. "Hank, Moira's heard from Lavine in the CIA."
"What happened?" The warm, slightly absentminded genius was gone, replaced by the man who knew what it was to fight. "Alex or Sean?"
A whimper slipped out without my consent. "Alex has been declared a POW. And Sean…" I didn't want to say it aloud. Saying it meant it was real. But Hank needed to know. "Sean's dead, Hank. He was killed."
"When do we leave?" Never a hesitation, not even a pause to think it through. He simply was ready to go find his brother. And, of course, pushing what he couldn't control aside. I'd taught him well.
"Tomorrow, once Moira gets back."
"I'll be there tonight. Janet's been after me to take a break anyway. It'll just take a few hours to finish up here, and then I'll drive home."
"Will Stark be alright with you leaving?" I didn't want him to lose his job, after all, but I needed him to come. If only to assure myself that one of my boys was safe. Relatively.
"If he doesn't want to lose his best biochemical engineer, he will be," he said firmly. "I'll see you in a few hours, Bianca."
"Hank, wait, there's more," I said quickly, wanting to catch him before he hung up. After his questioning grunt, I continued, with a much more measured pace. "We have… a few… visitors at the school… Magneto's back, and he's brought a few others with him. It's about Raven."
Silence reigned. If I didn't know better, I would have thought he'd hung up. "You can tell me when I get there."
And then he really did hang up, for once letting his utterly polite personality fall to selfishness. And my heart ached for him, for all my boys.
AN: Here's chapter two! Thanks for reading, and a big thanks to brigid1318 for your review. And here's some Hank action, just for you, dear!
