{Author's Note: Captain, time jump ahead! And the story continues! Enjoy!}
It'd been three months since Pietro went missing. Three months, and they were still no closer to finding him. Yes, that meant that Cerebro was almost fixed, but that didn't mean it would be able to lead them to Pietro.
Sure, besides helping Hank repair Cerebro, Wanda spent her downtime working to control her powers under Charles' instruction, but there were still no guarantee that she wouldn't destroy the machine again when she used it once more.
Wanda had been... not content exactly, because how content can you be when your brother is missing…but she had been determined. She knew that she had been so close to finding Pietro the last time she used Cerebro that getting it working again was the most viable option to locate him.
Erik didn't feel the same.
He'd spent the summer covertly breaking into government facilities across D.C., trying to find any record of where Pietro had been taken, but his efforts had been for naught. Even on the rare occasion when he'd enlisted Hank and Charles' help to get past tighter security, he still had nothing to show for his efforts. Whoever had taken Pietro was either not with the government, or the operation was heavily classified and went so high up the chain of command that he wasn't going to find it recorded in any documents in known government facilities.
But Erik refused to give into despair. He'd made a promise to Wanda and to Mila that he would get Pietro back and he was going to do that or he was going to die trying.
It had been hard though, going day after day knowing that Pietro was locked up somewhere suffering for what may seem like years to him, but Erik had not allowed himself to lose focus, not since that day that Wanda destroyed Cerebro and then declared that even if they found him, it might still be too late.
That night had been…bad. Erik had taken a bottle of vodka and whiskey up onto the platform of the giant satellite dish on Charles' estate and drunk until he couldn't feel anything anymore, and then he kept drinking until he blacked out.
Honestly, it was lucky he hadn't rolled off the dish and killed himself, but really it wasn't luck. It was thanks to Charles that he hadn't died from his own foolishness. Charles had obviously known what Erik was doing and he had sent Hank to retrieve him before he fell to his death.
The next morning, no one mentioned what had happened, but it went without saying that it wouldn't happen again. Wanda and Pietro deserved better than that. They deserved a father that would go to the ends of the earth for them, not one that would wallow in his own despair until he died of a drunken stupor or consumption itself.
So no, Erik hadn't touched an ounce of alcohol since that night, but it didn't mean he didn't want to everyday Pietro was still missing.
The only good thing about the last three months was that Wanda had grown to, at the very least, tolerate Erik's presence in her life because when he wasn't breaking into government facilities, he made a point to go to Charles' mansion and check in on their progress with Cerebro and take part in her training.
Wanda had never told him where she had been or what she had been doing during the year she had been away from home, but he didn't press her to. Unlike Pietro, she didn't want to know about his past, so Erik wasn't going to force her into sharing her own, although he hoped one day they would both be able to share their stories.
Wanda still didn't refer to him as Dad or Father either, but that was alright. Being called Erik was better than being called asshole, and Erik would take what he could get.
Mila had also really warmed up to Erik, and every time he came back to the mansion with no news of Pietro, she would walk up to him, wrap her small arms around his legs and say, 'It's alright Mr. Erik. We know you're trying.'
With time, it had also begun to get easier to face Wanda. That is, every time he looked at her, Erik wasn't reminded of the wife he'd lost. Yes, there were striking similarities between the two, but Wanda was her own person, and Erik had begun to see her that way. He now found joy, not sadness, in the times when he could see the wonderful aspects of Magda's beauty and personality alive in his daughter.
Despite this improvement in their relationship, Erik failed to realize that throughout the summer Wanda had been suffering through a similar problem because she could clearly see Pietro every time she looked at her father, but she had grown use to it, and his visits motivated her to train harder and keep working with Hank to fix Cerebro, so that one day she would see her brother again.
And now, finally that day may have come.
This morning, Hank and Wanda had put the finishing touches on Cerebro a few days earlier than they'd originally thought and now they just had to wait for Charles and Erik to get back from their food run, so Charles could test it out before Wanda did. Hank felt that it would be less likely that Charles would overload Cerebro if there were any minor adjustments that they had missed than if Wanda were to use Cerebro right away, and not wanting to take any unnecessary risks, Wanda conceded to his rational.
So it was a couple hours later and after a few last minute fixes that Wanda was finally all hooked up to Cerebro waiting anxiously for the opportunity to find her brother.
"Okay. So just remember your training." said Charles, "Relax your mind. Don't focus on Peter right away. Ease into it, and slowly build up your connection. Then focus on where he is, not what he is going through."
Wanda took a deep breath and nodded her understanding. This is what she had been training for all summer. She knew that's what she had to do. She just didn't know if she would be able to, but for the sake of her brother she better be able to.
"I want to try something else too." said Wanda.
Charles raised one eyebrow slightly, "What do you mean?"
"I think you were on the right track when you tried to use both Erik and me to find Pietro, but because you weren't related to any of us, that's why you couldn't locate him. I think if I use Cerebro, with Erik's help, I'll be able to finally get Pietro's exact location."
"I think that's a really excellent idea." replied Charles.
"Me too." said Erik stepping forward to join Wanda then hesitantly offering his hand and a small smile he hoped was reassuring.
Wanda took his hand in her smaller one, and to Erik's surprise gave a small and short-lived attempt at returning his smile with one of her own.
"Okay, Hank. I'm as ready as I'm going to be. Turn it on."
Following Wanda's command Hank activated Cerebro, and even though he was a scientist and a bit of an agnostic, he prayed to God that this time they would be able to find Peter.
When Hank turned on Cerebro, it was just as painful as the last time, but this time, Wanda was ready. She didn't let the fire in her mind over power her sense of purpose. Instead, she used her own 'chaotic' energy as she'd come to call it, to push against the pain, and squeezing Erik's hand tightly she slowly focused on her brother.
After just a moment, she felt pain much worse than the first time she'd used Cerebro. The biting hunger and exhaustion she felt was much more intense, and her left leg ached something fierce. However, she managed not to let the pain overwhelm her. She held onto the connection, but forced herself to view her connection with Pietro on a geographical plane. Holding onto to that connection with all of her might through clenched teeth she called out to Hank, "Tell me if—when coordinates come through. I don't know how much longer I'll be able to hold onto the connection…he's…he's in so much pain."
"Just a little longer, Wanda! I think it's working!" Hank called out, as Cerebro made a whirring sound. Then to his relief, coordinates came through. "GOT IT!" yelled Hank in triumph as he quickly shut down Cerebro.
As Cerebro went offline and Wanda felt her connection with Pietro break, she slumped over in exhaustion, but Erik was there to support her. Fortunately, Erik also voiced what she so desperately wanted to know but was unable to express as she was struggling to catch her breath.
"What's the location? Where is he?"
"Hang on. I'm looking up the latitude and longitude on the world map now…" replied Hank spreading out a giant map in front of him. "Just a second…He's…somewhere in the middle of Iowa."
"Iowa?" asked Erik. "Are you sure? That seems random."
"Yes, I'm sure. It makes perfect sense if you think about it." replied Hank "Iowa is a fairly rural state. If whoever took Peter is as well-funded as I expect they are, then it wouldn't be very hard to buy out a large piece of farmland, and build an underground facility."
Having regained a little bit of strength Wanda pulled away from Erik and spoke up, "So this is it? We really know where he is? We can go get him?"
"Yes. We can." replied Hank.
Filled with such relief and joy Wanda turned and hugged Erik tightly. Caught completely off guard, Erik didn't immediately react, and right when he was about to Wanda pulled quickly away, seemingly just as surprised by her display of affection as Erik was.
"Right." she said, straightening up and brushing her hair behind one ear awkwardly, "Well what are we waiting for!? Let's get going!"
"Hold your horses Wanda. We can't just go rushing off to Iowa to a likely heavily secured facility without some plan of attack." stated Charles.
"Well we'll figure that out on the way there! Hank mentioned awhile back that you have a private jet, right? But it'll still take, what two to three hours to get there. That's plenty of time to form a plan. Besides, you're a telepath and I'm a tele—I don't know, something or other, can't you just mind control our way in? Plus, we've got Erik, who can just tear his way through any metal structure. I saw some of the place through Pietro's eyes, it's not all glass. They obviously didn't plan to ever hold Erik there, so they had to have built it with a lot of metal." countered Wanda.
"Wanda, I don't think I'm going to be able to be of much assistance in this rescue mission. Yes, you're probably right about the construction of the facility as far as metal goes, but we learned before that there's obviously something blocking my abilities there, and that could extend not just in cloaking the building, but also throughout the entire facility." replied Charles.
Wanda looked a little defeated at this pronouncement, and Erik had to admit that he was too, but he wasn't about to let these challenges stop him, and he knew Wanda wouldn't either.
"Okay, yes that makes things more difficult, but I know we're still powerful enough to get in and out of there. We'll scope out the place, and I'm sure Wanda's right, and I'll be able to rip into the building. Then Hank and I should be able to infiltrate it easily enough from there." said Erik.
"What do you mean you and Hank?" asked Wanda. "I'm going too!"
"Wanda…I don't think—" Erik started to say
"Look, Erik, I appreciate all you've done in trying to find Pietro, and the fact that your making an effort to build a relationship with me these past few months, even though I know I've been…standoffish, but you still don't get to make my decisions for me, and besides you need me there. We all know we have a better chance of succeeding if we play all of our cards." said Wanda glaring into Erik's eyes, daring him to challenge her.
"Alright…" said Erik defeated. "But we stick together. Like you said, we're stronger that way."
Even though they all wanted to rush off to get Pietro right away, in the end it was decided that they would wait until the next day. They needed time to prepare, and dissect any information Wanda could remember about the facility from her connection with Pietro.
Unfortunately, it was decided that Mila would have to accompany them on the mission, but she would remain outside of the facility with Charles the entire time. No one wanted to bring her even that close to what was bound to be a dangerous situation, but it was unavoidable. They couldn't leave her alone at the mansion. She was too young, and they had no one they felt comfortable leaving her with. All of their close friends were either MIA or…dead.
As the last preparations were made, Erik wandered through the halls of the mansion. He was wearing what Pietro called his gladiator get-up, complete with the maroon cape and his body armor. He'd decided to bring along his helmet too, not knowing yet if he'd wear it. If it turned out Charles could communicate with him and the others, he'd leave it off.
Erik walked down the wood paneled hall of Charles home, impressed by how well they had all managed to shine up the entire place and return it to its original pristine state. After all, when this was all over Charles wanted to start the school back up again, and now that Cerebro was fixed he could actually look for potential students.
He is a good teacher. He taught me how to control my power, though he probably regrets it now.
Erik sighed, moving along the hallway. Despite his and Charles past qualms, he hoped that one day Charles would allow his children to be students at the 'Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters.' It would be a safe place for them, and it would give them a place that they could hopefully one-day call home, since their old one was lost to them.
As Erik reached the end of the hall, he realized he was outside of the bedroom Wanda had claimed for herself. The door was ajar, and Erik was about to announce himself, but then he saw that Wanda was facing away from the door, standing over the bed with her hands clutching something tightly. That something was Pietro's silver jacket.
The way Wanda was standing so rigidly, Erik thought she might stay like that forever, but suddenly she whipped the jacket around, shoved her arms into the sleeves and pulled the jacket on over her plain black t-shirt. It was slightly big on her, but not to the point of being a hindrance to her mobility. Then she turned herself around, and saw Erik watching her.
"What?" she asked a little hostilely.
"Nothing." Erik replied quickly. "It looks good on you."
"Yea, well…I figure Pietro's going to want it back as soon as possible, so…he'll probably kill me when he sees I'm wearing it though." said Wanda with a sad smile.
"I'm sure he'll forgive you." replied Erik. "Are you ready to go?"
"Yea. Let's do this." She replied, and together, father and daughter headed down to board the plane.
{Author's Note: I have nothing against Iowa. I realize there are more than just farms there, but the setting works for the purpose of this story. Please feel free to comment. I appreciate the input.}