Author's Note

I do not own The Gifted.

A massive thank you to K. S. Blackmore, The Rise Of The Cursed Child, and ines1808 for the follows, BoleynQueen for the favourite, Wisteria115, Ella Symphony, and the Guest for your reviews and sageandclovers for the follow, favourite and review.

As I said at the start, this is one of my shorter works, and as of right now, there are two full chapters and an epilogue left to go.

Something a little different this week. Don't worry, we'll be back to Lauren and Andy next chapter, but for now please enjoy a different perspective and some outside events.

Fifty three years.

For fifty three years he had hidden.

For fifty three years he had buried everything deep.

And all of it for nothing.

All of it gone in the space of less than three hours.

Perhaps the strangest thing was that he didn't regret it.

Not for a moment.

It was bad enough that the powers had come back, that was one thing, but to sit there and hear Andrea's voice coming from that girl's mouth.

That chilled him to the bone.

It was a primal sort of fear, something remembered from his childhood, an echo of a distant memory.

It couldn't happen.

She couldn't be here.

Burning the building down was, in retrospect, a mistake.

He should have taken them out directly.

"I don't know what you think you're going to charge me on," he told the arresting agent. "It's not a crime to damage my own damn shop and house."

"But it is a crime to blow up half a street and kill two people, with a further five in critical condition."

Well.

Yes.

Yes it was.

After the agents from Sentinel Services and prosecutor were done, no more visitors were expected.

So this Doctor Roderick Campbell was a surprise.

"I was a big fan of your work Mr Strucker, although this rather puts a different spin on things."

"My work? I'm an antiques dealer."

"You were an antiques dealer. I believe your stock is now ash. I meant your work on suppressing the X-gene. Quite brilliant, we've been building on it ourselves."

"I fail to see the relevance Mr Campbell."

"I'll lay it out flat then Mr Strucker. I want to strike a deal with you. Agree to work for me, and I'll have you let off the charges."

"I have no interest in continuing my work."

"Four people now dead, a further eleven still in hospital, one in critical condition. Mass damage to surrounding shops and homes. Those are some serious charges Mr Strucker." Campbell stood. "Think about my offer."

Otto thought about it for precisely six point four minutes, until he was locked up back in his cell. His work had all been to one aim, an aim he had ultimately failed to achieve. He wasn't there to play lap dog and lab rat for Trask after all these years.

Old men like him fared badly in prison, and after the second attack they put him in solitary. For his own protection they said.

The cell they held him in was hardly the most secure of places. Otto could hear the woman in the cell behind his screaming and pounding the walls.

According to the guards that came to collect him, he was to be transferred back to the Sentinel Services Regional Headquarters. He wasn't the only one. Along with him was a young woman with deep green hair who glared at the guards like she wanted to rip them apart.

"So what are you here for?" she asked when they started moving. One of the guards nudged her with his gun.

"No talking Miss Dane!"

She snorted and lounged back on the bench, scowling at the world until they reached their destination, which happened to be, surprise surprise, another set of cells, where she immediately began offering sarcasm on everything around her. "Nice digs you got here. Homey."

They were only to be there for a couple of days of course, before being sent on to another more high level facility. Aka, one of the experimenting labs.

Otto knew what happened to mutants sent to 'high level facilities.' All too well. He was retired, but he still had his contacts.

"You had your chance to cooperate Miss Dane," the agent in charge told her. She huffed.

"Little favour? Call me Polaris."

Otto rolled his eyes. "Oh yes, very heroic I'm sure."

"And what business is it of yours what I want to be called? They're sending us to Hell, it's the least they can do."

They were led through into the cells, where the last person he ever would have expected or wanted to see there was sat.

"Well that's… interesting," observed Miss Dane. "You want to tell me what my prosecutor's doing in a cell?"

"Mr Strucker's got legal problems of his own."

Ah. Those children of his, presumably.

"He's heading to the same place you are."

They were led into cells as she continued to talk. Did she ever shut up, just for a moment?

"The same son of a bitch who tried to use my unborn child to get me to turn against my friends is going to prison with me? What is it, my birthday?"

"I'm glad you're enjoying yourself Miss Dane."

"It's Polaris," she snapped as he left, before glancing back at Otto. "So what you here for?"

"Blowing up my own damn shop. Reed, you tried to use her baby as a weapon?"

"You blew up- Wait, so it was you Lauren and Andy went to see in Chatanooga?"

"Okay, I am so out of the loop here," whined little miss heroic.

"A whole lot of things have happened that you don't know about," Reed told her. His gaze moved to Otto's collar. "You- You're-"

"Yes Reed. I am a mutant."

"But-"

"There are things you don't know."

"And things that shouldn't be said in front of the guard and under the camera," drawled little miss heroic. "What's between you two anyway?"

"He- He's my dad."

"Your dad? So why aren't you a mutant?" She narrowed her eyes. "Or are you?"

"No, I'm not! Miss Dane-"

"Polaris."

"Polaris. Listen to me."

Otto left them to bicker.

It was torture, sitting one cell away from Reed and not being able to say… so many things. About his life, the truth, his children…

Those children…

Otto still didn't regret it.

Miss Heroic spent her time trying to break out of her cell despite the collar until the day came for them to be put on the transport bus, where they were fitted with new collars to hold them to the seats, like animals in a café.

The journey went in silence for three hours, and then something went wrong. A tire blowout it felt like. The agent jumped from the van, evidently fearing an attack. Gunfire erupted outside.

Panic and confusion broke out. Three of the agents entered the back of the van.

"Is there a problem officer?" drawled Miss Heroic.

"You sure they're safe to..?"

"It's fine, just get them off. They can't do anything anyway, all the muties in the area are shut down."

That was… interesting.

Reed, the idiot, headbutted his guard, and Miss Heroic followed his lead.

He really was too old for this, but he couldn't stand to sit by while one of the guards kicked his floored son. With their backs to him, Otto let the energy build in his hands for the second time in a week. One of the guards gaped at him. "What the-"

The force of the explosion blew the van apart.

There were people running towards them before the smoke even started to clear.

"Lorna!" came a disembodied man's voice.

"Marcos," she rasped. Light lit up the smoky darkness.

"How did you find us?"

"It really doesn't matter now. Come on, we gotta go."

His ears were ringing and the world spinning.

He'd known he was too old for this.

Someone pulled him to his feet and he stumbled after them. Another man was half-carrying Reed, who looked barely conscious. Something twisted in his gut. This was why he never used his powers; this was why it was too dangerous.

A car screeched to a halt in front of them. A blonde woman stuck her head out. "Come on, get in!"

They scrambled into the car and she floored it, tearing away up the road. "Reed! Oh- Reed, is he okay, is he alright, is he hurt?"

"Just dazed from the explosion I think," replied the man with him.

"What caused that anyway?" asked the one who now had Miss Heroic sat on his lap. "Was that you baby?"

"No, I can't- I think it was him." She jerked her chin at Otto.

"That's some impressive firepower."

Otto grunted a response. He shouldn't have done that.

Their rescuers, it seemed, were the Mutant Underground, with the two men being John and Marcos, or Thunderbird and Eclipse as they requested. They switched cars at the nearest gas station, with John taking over driving so Caitlin could tend to Reed. There were angry burns to his arms and small cuts to his entire body, but none of it serious. It was a long, twelve hour drive to their destination, which was apparently a large deserted looking building.

Reed was able to walk by the time they arrived, though he leant heavily on Caitlin. Lauren and Andy met them inside.

Otto couldn't stop himself shying away.

Nor did he miss the anger and disgust on Andy's face when he looked at him.

"I'm glad you're okay Mr Strucker," was the only thing Lauren had to say to him.

The two teenagers did come to see him the following night, when the further events had died down.

"We wanted to say… we understand," Lauren said.

"I beg your pardon?"

"We understand. The trying to kill us thing. They were monsters. The girl and her brother. I can't say I forgive you for it, but I understand."

"Yes."

"And I'm sorry about your shop," Lauren said.

"And the whole getting you arrested thing," muttered Andy. She frowned.

"Andy!"

"Well we kinda did!"

"Yeah. Sorry about that too."

There seemed something… different about her now. A brighter kind of confidence.

"There's another mutant here. Dreamer. She's been helping us. With our… flashes."

"Lauren means she's been getting rid of them," Andy muttered.

"Are they gone?"

Lauren shrugged. "I can't speak for Andy, but I don't know if she'll ever be gone. But she isn't so loud anymore, and she doesn't go on attempted destruction and murder sprees."

"Always a bonus," commented Andy. She shook her head and slapped his shoulder.

"You don't see them anymore then?"

"Oh, we still see them," replied Andy. "But Dreamer helps get rid of the memories. It helps." He glanced at Lauren. "It's... really helped."

"And… Fenris?"

"We'd rather not use that." Lauren reached for Andy's arm. "We best get back to mom and dad. Goodnight Mr Strucker."

"Goodnight."

Reed came to him on the fourth night. Yellowing bruises marked his face. Otto hated himself for it. He did that, with the power he swore never to use.

"We need to talk."

"Yes, we do."

They talked long into the night. Otto told him everything, the truth of his family legacy and the childhood illness that nearly killed him.

"There's a truck leaving for Mexico in two days. I think you should go with them," Reed said.

"Perhaps I should, but I won't."

"Dad-"

"I might not believe in these so-called freedom fighters Reed, but I worked for Trask for thirty five years. I'm needed here."

For more than just the reason he gave Reed.

He had to admit he considered leaving though.

It still scared him to know the children had those powers – the powers he tried so hard to eradicate from this world - and scared him even more to learn they were training.

They could level this building if they wanted to.

They could do it by accident.

If they slipped, even for a moment, like he had seen from Lauren that day on the street, they could wreak so much devastation.

Especially given what he had heard in that girl's voice, seen behind her eyes.

The boy, Andy, said Dreamer was helping, but Otto had still seen the faded glimmer behind his sister's eyes. All it would take was one push.

Otto wasn't afraid to admit it scared him.

As long as those children breathed, they were a walking timebomb.