Hope you like this one!
And thank you to the two who reviewed the last chapter, I really really appreciate it. And for you guys who followed and favourited this story, it really does men a lot to me.
The flight to Washington D.C. was long and tiresome, but Agent Moira MacTaggert informed her British guests that her director would like to meet Charles as soon as possible. Which meant that Margaret had to go without a nap. She was on the edge of exhaustion at this stage.
"Excuse me, Agent MacTaggert," Margaret asked as she hurried along behind her and Charles. They led their small group, leaving Margaret and Raven to trail along behind them. "But will this take long?"
"However long the director needs us, Miss. York," the agent replied, her eyes scanning over some paperwork in her arms. Raven glanced at Margaret, who had quite the tight-lipped smile on her face as she stared at the Agent's back. But she was worried and nervous about this meeting. Her hands were beginning to sweat and she could feel her stomach fill with the worst kind of butterflies.
"Charles," Margaret said, grabbing his sleeve and stopping him in his tracks. He turned to her suddenly, noting her worried and somewhat frightened expression. He glanced at Moira and Raven, telling them to go on without them and that they'd follow. "I don't know about this. I think we should rethink this for a moment or…"
Charles took the woman's hands and gave them a reassuring squeeze. She inhaled deeply and shut her eyes, trying to push away the sudden anxious grip that held her chest.
"What I'm saying is that I'm afraid something bad will happen. We don't know this Moira person, nor do we know how those somewhat powerful men in there will treat us once they realise we aren't exactly one hundred percent Homo sapiens," she finished in a hurried breath, taking her hands away and placing one on her sweaty forehead. This stressful situation had finally gotten to her, and the realisation that those men will most likely have a bad reaction to their "condition" had her panicking. "What if they lock us up? What if they take Raven away from us?"
Charles watched his friend for a moment as she had her small and understandable breakdown in the middle of the government facility. She took rapid and short breaths as she stared at Charles, her face red from the embarrassment she felt for the sudden panic attack.
"I won't let them touch either of you, Margaret," Charles said, pulling the panicked girl into an embrace. She pressed her cheek to his shoulder and nodded her head softly, inhaling deeply as she fought against her stomach flutters. She pulled away and let out her breath, nodding her head softly but hardly meaning it as she brushed past him and finally followed the other two women into the meeting room.
After Charles' presentation for the agency's directors, Margaret shot him an encouraging smile as he sat beside her. She looked at the two directors to her right, upset to see them sharing tired and uninterested looks with one another. She furrowed her brow as she glanced back at Charles, who shook his head softly at her unspoken question and rather unpleasant comments about both men.
"MacTaggert, you really think some crackpot scientist is gonna make me believe in sparkly dames and vanishing men?" the head director asked, his tone less than impressed with the female Agent. "You just bought yourself a one way ticket back to the typing pool. This meeting is over."
Margaret was about to open her mouth and give those two men a stern talking to before Charles told Agent MacTaggert to sit back down. "I didn't really expect you to believe me, given that all you could think about during my presentation was what sort of pie they were serving in the commissary." Margaret looked at both of the directors quite smugly as Charles informed them of the Apple Pecan pie that was available for lunch. "You see one of the many spectacular things my mutation allows me to do is that I can read your mind."
"I've seen this at a magic show. Are you going to ask us to think of a number between one and ten?" Agent Striker joked, watching Charles curiously. Charles smirked and shot a glance at Margaret, probably hearing the less than lady-like words that she was thinking of.
"No, Agent Striker, although I could ask you about your son, William, which is very nice," Charles began. "But I think I'd rather ask you about the Jupiter Missiles America is currently placing in Turkey."
That certainly caught their interest.
"You brought a spy! He's a goddamn Spy!" the director shouted at Moira, sparking a loud shouting match between all the agents in the room.
Margaret looked at Charles with worried eyes but he merely took her hand, patting it lightly to relax her. He knew she wanted to show them this wasn't a trick, that they were the real deal when it comes to human evolution. But before she could do anything herself, Raven shot out of her seat and transformed into Agent Striker right before his very eyes.
Silence filled the room as the American's all stared at Raven, who remained calm as she stood in place as Agent Striker. Margaret squeezed Charles' hand nervously as she eyed each CIA Agent, growing more anxious as they continued to only stare with mouths open at Raven for a long, long time.
"How's that for a magic trick?" Charles declared, as a wave of blue ripples transformed Raven back to her natural blue skin. Margaret gripped his hand even tighter as the directors seemed to grow angry, frightened even as they looked between Charles, Raven and then, finally, Margaret.
"And what, can you teleport or something?" Agent Striker asked angrily. Margaret felt her heart beat a million beats a second as she turned to look at Charles for guidance. Should she show them?
After a soft and encouraging nod of his head, Margaret turned back to the two men. Even though she had qualms about showing them her power, she trusted Charles with this. He was one of the few she trusted when it came to the subject of her powers.
She lowered her head slightly, focused her eyes and her mind on the files and stationary in front of them. One at a time, each file and pen began to raise slowly off the table, hovering slightly in front of them. They glanced at one another with uncertainty before she let them fall back then with a dull thud.
"Best damn magic trick I've ever seen," the man in the black suit said from behind the two directors. Margaret looked away from the two head agents, pulling her hand away from Charles' and clasping them together on the table. She always hated showing people her powers. It never bothered her when she needed to grab a magazine off a table but was too lazy to get off the sofa to get it in her own flat, but when she was put on display like that, as if she was a bloody magician, she felt anxious. She felt afraid.
"I want them out of here." Margaret's head snapped up again and she stared with wide eyes at the two agents. "And locked down until I can figure out what to do."
"My facility is off site," the man in the black suit announced. "I'll take 'em."
…..
"Margaret, please you need to calm down."
Margaret paced back and forth in the large board room. All the CIA agents had left the three mutants, the Man in Black (or M.I.B, as Margaret had taken to calling him) gone to get the car to bring them to his facility.
"Charles I can't calm down," she said, wringing her hands to stop them from shaking. "I knew this would happen! I knew it! They're going to… Oh, I don't know what they're going to do!" Her breathing was erratic, but she stopped pacing all the same when she felt Raven's hand take her own. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be, Mags," Raven said softly, patting her hand lightly. She was still in her blue form, smiling up at the telekinetic with her bright, yellow eyes. "But we'll be fine, okay? We'll be fine."
"I'm just worried," Margaret said softly, she said when she sat beside her blue friend. She inhaled deeply before nodding her head softly. "I'm sorry, I'm alright. I'm alright."
Charles watched Margaret worriedly, and she knew for a fact he was in her mind trying to find a way to calm her down. And even though she knew his intentions were good, she told him to bugger off out of her mind and to focus on what was going to happen to them. With a soft chuckle from Charles across the table, he did as he was told and peeked into the mind of the M.I.B and the other agency directors.
After a few moments of snooping around the CIA's top operatives, the trio of mutants were being escorted towards the parking garage by the M.I.B. As he spoke to them about how he knew about mutants all along, or some such nonsense, Charles was informing Margaret and Raven of the plan.
They were to find this Sebastian Shaw, a man with connections to a mixture of mutants and the plan of nuclear war. Margaret felt so far out of her comfort zone, she was sure she was dreaming all of this, but sadly the look on Charles' face said it all and she knew that this threat was very, very real indeed.
"I always knew there were people like you," the M.I.B continued, Margaret not paying much attention as she strode beside Charles, her hand shoved deep into her pockets. "I've been the laughing stock of this agency for years, but I knew it. You're going to love my facility."
Just as he finished his gushing over his facility, a sleek and shiny black car pulled up in front of them.
"That's going to have to wait," Charles smirked. The M.I.B looked positively flabbergasted. "Agent MacTaggert has a lead on Sebastian Shaw and if we don't act now, we might miss him." The M.I.B stared at Charles confusedly, a muffled "wha" falling from his mouth as the telepath pulled open the door.
"Not only can he read minds but he can communicate with them as well," Raven announced, flicking her now blonde hair over her shoulder and opening the back door and sliding into the backseat without a fuss.
"Quite the nuisance, actually," Margaret smirked, earning a soft chuckle from Charles. She slid into the backseat beside Raven, smiling at the female Agent in the driver's seat.
"That's incredible!" the M.I.B announced, completely in awe of the telepath before him. "But I can't let you go anywhere without permission from upstairs."
"Would you like to see one more magic trick?" Charles asked, getting an eager nod from the M.I.B. Charles smiled and pressed two fingers to his head. "Get in the car."
"Okay, then!" the M.I.B agreed against his will, climbing into the backseat without another word. Charles shut the door after the agent before climbing into the front passenger seat.
"Buckle up," Moira announced before revving the engine and speeding out of the parking garage.
….
There was a bitter chill in the air as the coast guard's ship powered towards the Caspartina, the yacht owned by Sebastian Shaw. Speedboats surrounded the vessel, speeding ahead of the larger ship filled with agents and other CIA operatives. The larger ship switched on their fog lights and fired fiery red flares into the air, using a bullhorn to announce their presence to Shaw and his minions.
"This is the U.S Coast Guard," the announcer declared. "Do not attempt to move your vessel!"
"Who's there, Charles?" Margaret asked. She watched Charles eagerly, pulling her coat closer to her when she felt that irritable chill. He had his fingers pressed to his head, focusing entirely on the group of mutants on the yacht in front of them.
"There's three… no, four mutants," he said. He tried to focus again, but focused mainly on Shaw's mind. After a few silent moments of intense concentration, his face began to drop into a frown. "I've lost Shaw…There's something blocking me."
"How is that even possible?" Margaret asked confusedly. Charles tried to focus again, tried with all his might to try to pierce the barrier the other mutant had created.
"I think there's someone like me on that ship," he replied. "This is incredible, I can actually feel her inside my mind. I'm very sorry but I don't think I'm going to be much help with you tonight, you're on your own."
"What about her?" the M.I.B asked, pointing at Margaret. Her eyes widened in shock as she looked at the agent. "You can still use your powers, right?"
"Well, yes, of course I can but…" Margaret began, shaking her head nervously. "I don't know how."
Before the male agent could reply to her, a figure stood on the Caspartina. Margaret squinted her eyes for a better look, and she could just about make out the two swirling vortexes he held in his hands.
"Oh my god," Charles mumbled beside her.
In almost a split second, he sent the wind swirls powering towards the speedboats. Without a second to think about it, Margaret's hand shot out from where she stood, sending a short burst of energy to stop the wind from attacking the speedboats. It acted as a force-field, protecting the men in the speedboats from a near-fatal accident. The sound of it leaving her hand echoed around them, and Margaret dropped her hand as quickly as she raised it.
"Oh, I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" she shouted, covering her mouth and stepping away from the railings. "I didn't mean to, are they okay? Oh god, Charles, did I hurt them?"
"No, no, Margaret," he laughed, grabbing her by the forearms. "You saved them, you did wonderfully!" She shook her head, looking over his shoulder at the Caspartina once more. Moira joined them by Charles side, being ushered back by the M.I.B.
"We need to get inside!" he urged, using his hands to push them towards the doors down into the bowels of the ship. Charles took Margaret by the hand and led her down ahead of him, but stopped when he felt a piercing pain in his head.
"Stop!" he shouted. "Agh!" Margaret looked at him, searching his face for whatever was hurting him.
"What's wrong?" she asked, concerned.
"There's someone else out there," he announced. Without another word, he spun and ran out onto the deck of the ship again. Margaret followed him instantly, followed by the two agents. When they looked out over the water to the Caspartina once more, it's giant and heavy anchor was beginning to raise from the waters. "There!"
After a heavy pause, the anchor was flung down towards the yacht, taking out the large chimney first before circling around again. The chain wrapped around the top of the ship, before it began ripping through it as if it was nothing. The anchor itself had disconnected from the chain then once it reached the end and flew into the water with a giant splash. Debris was strewn all over the docks and the waters surrounding.
"Bloody Nora," Margaret mumbled, completely and ashamedly in awe of what she just witnessed.
There was a quiet moment when nothing happened. Everyone paused as they watched the waters surrounding the Caspartina. But then they saw it. A dim light floating beneath the water as a submarine moved quickly beneath the ocean surface.
Margaret squinted her eyes when Charles began shouting for someone to "Let it go". After a moment of blurry vision, she seen him. A man, floating behind the submarine, his arms outstretched as he tried to stop it from moving anymore.
"You've got to help him!" Charles shouted at the agents behind him, still urging the man to let the submarine go. As he continued to shout, the man disappeared beneath the waves and was gone from sight. "We have to help him!"
Charles darted from the railings and after a second of confused staring, Margaret chased him down once she realised his ridiculous plan.
"Charles, you cannot be serious!" Charles didn't answer her, instead he tossed his coat in her direction as he ran down one of the long pathways. "Are you mad?! You could drown! You both could drown!" She plucked his scarf off the ground as she dashed after him. "Charles." His shoes then. "Charles!" He reached the end of the pathway before glancing over his shoulder. "Charles, don't you dar-"
He leapt off the ship and dove under the water. Margaret dropped his items and peered over the side of the railings, gasping and shouting his name as she looked for her idiotic telepath.
"Charles!?" she shouted, cursing her bad eyesight as she peered out onto the dark ocean. "Oh my god! Charles!?"
"We're over here!"
She felt her heart soar once she heard his shouting from the water not far from where she stood. She looked around frantically for something to help him, but was happy to see one of the speedboats rushing towards him and the mysterious, anchor-throwing man. Margaret plucked his discarded clothing from her feet and rushed to where the boat was returning to the larger ship, a dozen men rushing around with blankets for them.
"I'll bloody kill you, Charles Francis Xavier!" she shouted, pushing past sailors and grabbing a blanket from their arms. "Have you gone absolutely mad?!" Charles was dripping wet when she found herself in front of him, in a very sorry state after being tugged along for so long. She tsked and threw a blanket over his shoulder, rubbing his arms to heat him up.
"You didn't expect me to let him die, did you?" Charles asked, reminding Margaret of the other gentleman behind her.
"And you!" Charles sighed when his friend turned from him towards Erik, the brunette glaring dangerously at the mutant. "Have you lost your mind?! You could have died! Who are you?! Who is he?!" she turned to Charles then, pointing at the still dripping Erik.
"Margaret, that is Erik Lehnsherr," Charles said, wiping his face with the woollen blanket. Margaret had turned back to the dripping wet mutant, shaking her head angrily as she stubbornly tossed another blanket around Erik's shoulders. He was only in a wetsuit, after all. "Erik, this is Margaret York."
Both mutants stared at one another, Margaret glaring at him as she tossed Erik a towel as well after giving him the blanket. He stared at her confusedly for a moment, watching as she mumbled worried words about the man she knew very well and the man she knew nothing about.
What the fuck is she doing? Erik thought to himself. Charles chuckled in front of him, Margaret folding his coat up and tossing it to him angrily. She continued to mumble profanity about the fright the two men had given her, shaking her head as she fussed over some of the others agents who were in the speedboats. She needed to keep busy after that or she'd throw a fit at Charles for not thinking things through.
"Honestly, she means well," Charles said amusedly, laughing when Margaret shot him a terrifying and angry glare. "She's like us." Erik eyed the woman suspiciously, suddenly finding her far more interesting than he had a moment ago. What could she do then, if she hung around with a telepath?
"You frightened the life out of me, Charles Xavier," Margaret thought aloud. Charles looked at his friend, an apologetic look in his brown eyes as he watched her fret over some of the agents she saved in the speedboats. She handed out some more blankets for the few who had fallen into the water, realising she hadn't stopped everyone from falling from the quick, little boats. No one was injured however in this small mission, just cold and wet.
Margaret looked at the telepath again, a tense look on her face when she seen his apologetic look.
"I am sorry, love," he said to her mind. She nodded her head slowly and smiled at him, turning back to one of the shivering speedboat agents.
Oxford University, England. 1956
Winter had officially set in. Margaret could see her breath in front of her as she hurried along down the path, tightening her scarf slightly and pulling her coat closer to her. There was no snow, but she could feel the icy bite in the air and knew it was on the way. She was one of the very few students left at the University during the Winter break, but in her mind she was checking off items on her mental list as she prepared for her trip back home.
She stood outside her accommodation building, fiddling awkwardly with her keys even though her fingers felt almost frozen. She struggled with her shivering hands as she tried to pick them out of her pocket, but stopped when she sensed someone standing behind her.
She spun around quickly, clutching her chest when she got a fright.
"Oh!" she said, laughing slightly as she stared at the sudden stranger. "I'm sorry, I didn't see you there." She smiled awkwardly and showed her keys. "My hands are so cold I can barely use my keys, I'm sorry if I'm taking so long."
"Take your time," the gentleman said behind her. She watched him for a moment before nodding with a smile. "People would usually be on their way home for Christmas at this stage." Margaret had turned back to face the door and continued to unlock the door.
"I'll be heading off soon," Margaret informed him with a smile. She opened the door and held it to let him in behind her. "I'll be heading home on the train this weekend."
"Are you close with your family?" Margaret eyed him oddly. Such a personal question, she thought, but even so, she couldn't help but answer him vaguely.
"I like to think so," she said warily, narrowing her eyes as she watched him. She studied his face, noting his recognisable features. He was very handsome, she wasn't about to deny that, and the smirk that appeared on his face made it obvious that he knew it himself. His striking blue eyes caught her attention and focused on her own brown ones, catching her off guard for a moment.
He followed her towards the stairs. She stood up on the first step and turned back to face him, eyeing him distrustfully.
"Not enough to tell them about your powers, however."
He had to have seen her. Just two days ago she couldn't help it but her powers had made an appearance. The library had been silent and empty, except her and a few others but she was alone at the study tables. A large pile of books was beside her, shielding her from the rest of the library but after finishing one and reaching for another, the books wobbled and almost toppled from the table. She had stopped them from crashing on the ground.
"What are you talking about?" She clenched her fists nervously as she stood before him in the foyer of the student accommodation building. He noted her defensive mannerisms, her clenched fist and her flushing cheeks.
"You don't need to be so nervous," the stranger said, raising his hands to try to calm her down. Noting her flinch at his movements he dropped his hands again, trying to keep her as calm as possible. "I understand what you're going through. You're not alone."
She couldn't believe this. He was making fun of her, he had to be. She stood in place and didn't move, not a muscle, as she thought about this odd situation.
How could he possibly know? Maybe he had seen her in the library, but she was sure she was on her own in that section.
How could he know about her not telling her parents? She had no answer for that. She had no answer for any of this, if she was being honest with herself.
"I'm not going through anything," she said finally, sounding so sure she could have fooled herself. She stood her ground and feigned confidence as she squared her shoulders and crossed her arms. "Now, if that's all you have to say to me Who-Ever-You-Are, I will be leaving you." She turned on the balls of her feet and began up the stairs, almost running up them to get away from this psycho.
"Your father's name is Patrick York, your mother's name is Mary. You are Margaret Elizabeth York, named after your grandmothers and you have four siblings." She froze. "You are the eldest out of all of them. You were thinking about your youngest sister, Jane, before I came over to you. She seems very lovely, you dote on her quite a lot ever since that little accident." She turned again to face him, shock and confusion evident on her now pale face.
"Who are you? How do you know all of that?" she bit out. She was angry at him, which caught this stranger off guard slightly. He made a move to step up to her, but she narrowed her eyes viciously at him, stopping him again. "Tell me who are you."
"My name is Charles Xavier," Charles said with a polite smile. She raised a brow and eyed him.
"I knew you were familiar," Margaret scoffed. She rolled her eyes and seemed to relax then, crossing her arms. "You were snogging my mate in the pub last weekend." She threw her arms up and started up the stairs again, before stopping again and facing him again. "Shirley told you all that, didn't she? I'll kill her, that girl can't keep her mouth shut."
"It wasn't… Shirley," he said, trying his hardest to remember this "Shirley" girl, but was pulling a blank. "I knew all that because of my powers." She still had that look of disbelief on her face but another peek into her mind told him she almost had her. "I'm a telepath." She crossed her arms, still wavering on the line between belief in his powers and belief in the fact that he might be mental. "And I know you have a power of your own. You can manipulate things with your mind. Move a cup closer to you to reach it or even stop a pile of books falling onto the floor in the middle of a silent library."
He had her.
"What do you want with me, then?" Her arms tightened around her, almost as if she was trying to protect herself from whatever he was doing. It wasn't working, obviously.
"I don't want anything from you, Margaret," Charles began, stepping towards her. She was considerably taller than him as she stood two steps up from him, his forehead just reaching her crossing arms from where he stood. "I just want you to know that you are not alone. And that you don't have to learn how to control them on your own, I can help you if you wish."
She bit her lip as she pondered his words. If he was telling her the whole and honest truth, then perhaps she could take him up on his offer. She could keep them controlled to a certain point but sometimes, on the rare occasions, she could sense the stray mug or book floating in the room she would be sitting in. It scared her, and after the incident with her sister the first time she began to realise her powers, she was always on edge when it came to her powers. She felt dangerous.
"You are not dangerous, Margaret." She could feel tears pricking at her eyes and she dropped her head as she remembered those harsh and hurtful memories. Her poor sister had been in the hospital for weeks after her accident. All because of Margaret.
She lifted her head slowly to look at him, Charles taking another step up the stairs until he stood directly in front of her. She didn't flinch when he moved towards her then, and he took it as a sign of her accepting his words.
"You're not alone, Margaret." Margaret couldn't help but smile softly, shaking her head at the realisation. "And you never will be, I promise you."
I started college this week but I will try my hardest to get a little bit of this written as much as I possibly can, but like I said in the last authors note in chapter 1 I do do this for fun and in my own time. I'm glad you guys understand.
Thanks again for everything and I hope you enjoyed it. Review, Fave and Follow if you did!