Hey All!
First of all, thank you Neytiri-Spirit, I appreciate your review!
And thanks to all who read the first chapter and please enjoy the next one!
Chapter 2: Temptations
As soon as Charles and Erik entered the meeting room in the governmental complex, they were greeted by a concerned-looking Moira MacTaggert. "Good morning, gentlemen. There is something that you might want to take a look at." She said, walking over to the table and brushing aside various documents, before pulling out a thin file in a yellow cover and handing it to Charles. "Our intelligence has intercepted and decoded a message within Soviet territory." Moira said and invited them to take a seat among the other members of the meeting, before sitting down as well.
The head of the CIA 'mutant' division cleared his throat and continued, "What you have in your hand, Professor Xavier, is the report regarding the transmission that we have uncovered a few hours ago. It seems that there is going to be a meeting held by the Russian Military Security General and a confidential individual." The high-ranking agent said and turned on the projector to show an image of the primary document along with various comments near the Russian text.
"The Soviets are up to something." One of the CIA officials grumbled.
"Perhaps, but what is more important, is that the meeting was requested by the unidentified party itself. This leads us to believe that whatever is being planned… it is likely not to be planned entirely by the Russians." The head of the division replied.
"It must be Shaw." Charles voiced with a frown.
"That's what we are suspecting." The military agent replied.
"Then when and where?" Came the quick question from Erik – short and to the point.
"We don't know that yet... Our best men are working on it at this very moment, as we speak. We will have that information as soon as possible." The official said, taking a drink from his glass of water.
Charles quickly glanced to the side as he sensed Erik's tension. He could tell that the taller man did not like relying on the CIA, especially when it came to his personal matters or to Shaw. He knew that the other man had a hard time trusting those government officials, and he sometimes wondered how he managed to persuade Erik to stay. But he was more than glad that the other had stayed. There was something about the metal-bending mutant that intrigued him since the moment they met – since the moment he felt his presence in the water near Shaw's boat. It wasn't simply the thrill of finding another mutant and the possibility of bonding with someone else that was different… it was more than that. If he concentrated enough, he could still remember the sensation of being in the other's mind as clearly as recalling the splash of waves when they floated to the surface. Aside from the agonizing assault of painful memories, he felt something more – he sensed the light within those dark corridors of Erik's consciousness. Somewhere behind those deeply-lodged emotions of anger, there were sparks of goodness, trust and love. These emotions were less than whispers but Charles knew that Erik was more than capable of feeling them if the opportunity showed itself. He didn't have time to concentrate on them, but he knew that they were there, and it was from that very first moment that he felt drawn to the other man. Ever since that day, he had the urge to dig up those lost fragments and piece them together again, to help the light shine through and dim away the pain that he knew the other mutant was feeling on a regular basis.
Charles focused again on the man sitting near him as Erik spoke, "As soon as possible? It better be very soon then, because by the time your 'best men' figure it out, Shaw may be already gone."
The telepath noticed how much Erik was holding back from snapping at the officials. "Erik…" Charles whispered in a soft tone. "We will find him, I promise."
Erik turned to glance at his counterpart, staying silent for a few moments before replying. "Then we shouldn't be wasting time discussing things here. Not until we have the necessary information." He said and got up from his seat, turning to head towards the door.
"Hey! We're not here to listen to your complaints! If you can do better, go ahead and decode that information yourself. What, you can't? Maybe that's not your type of mutation?" One of the CIA members called out from the table, to which Charles replied with a harsh glare, dropping the yellow-filed report on the table and instantly getting up from his chair to follow Erik out of the door.
The well-known emotions of anger and frustration were swelling up in Erik. How dare those humans mock him? If he had no use for those pathetic beings, then he would have certainly showed them who they were speaking out against. How can those under-evolved humans show such blatant disrespect to the higher-evolved beings next in the chain of evolution? Being stuck here at an 'offsite' facility was insulting enough. Not to mention that they should be the ones fretting over Shaw as much as him, and they should be doing a better job than this! –
Erik neared a door that blocked his path. The metal-bender nearly growled at the obstacle and the door handle turned on its own, before the door itself flew open so hard that it hit the wall with heavy bang that made some of the surface crack. Erik was suddenly brought out of his thoughts as a gentle hand was placed on his shoulder. He instantly slowed down his pace and turned his head to look at Charles.
"Erik..." The telepath voiced softly, "Please, calm your mind... you are among friends here." He said as they stopped walking.
"You call that there 'friendly', Charles?" Erik asked with incredulity, looking back at the other.
"They didn't mean it, Erik. You must understand, they have no idea what is going on and they are just in as much as puzzlement as us in terms of what to do."
Erik turned to face his friend more fully, answering in a tense tone. "Listen to me, Charles. How can you consider them such good friends when they clearly consider us some kind of 'freaks'! Who knows whatever else they think or expect from us."
"But we're all on the same team."
"Are you so sure about that?"
"Of course I am! Don't you see? They are trying to help as much as they can – they did find this lead after all. Their reactions are to be expected; they have never heard or seen anything like the mutations that we have or Shaw and his friends have."
"And are you sure that they can differentiate between us and them?"
"I believe they do, Erik – otherwise they wouldn't have been working with us, and disclosing top-secret information with us. I am telling you, there is nothing to worry about."
"You believe they do? Where is the proof of that? You are way too trusting, Charles! Too naïve! And besides, what good is a lead anyway, with the important information missing? What if Shaw is already there?"
"Please be patient, Erik... I am sure we will catch him. Just give them a bit more time. I know how frustrated you are – we are all on edge – but the CIA are doing the best they can. They are giving it their all." Charles assured the other, his hand slowly sliding off Erik's shoulder.
The metal-bender sighed and felt that despite his anger, he still had the sudden urge to keep contact with the hand that was slipping from his shoulder. The touch somehow calmed him. But he soon stopped that train of thought. Those kinds of thoughts were a sign of weakness. He couldn't afford to have anything that can be used against him by his enemies, especially when he wasn't sure whom to trust. He wasn't sure about anyone except for Charles, but he promised himself not to give in to any sort of weakness to avoid the kind of exploitation that he had experienced in the past.
Erik nodded and turned to break their eye-contact. "I am going to wait for news about the time and location of Shaw's arrival then." He said and started walking through the hallway once more, leaving behind an almost saddened-looking Charles.
Shaking his head softly, the telepath put his hands in the pockets of his light-brown pants and started walking slowly towards the library. Just as he was rounding a corner, Raven suddenly caught up with them. "Hey, brother! I was looking all over for you!"
"Good evening, Raven." The professor replied with a strained smile.
"What's wrong, Charles? Where is Erik?" The shape-shifter asked with concern.
"No no, I'm alright. Erik just went to relax a bit. And I'm heading to the library to read something."
"Oh alright.. I wanted to ask you to come see our preparations. We're planning something fun this evening!" The blonde-haired Raven voiced as she tried to coax her best and oldest friend to come with her.
"I'm sorry, Raven, I'm tried right now. Maybe later." Charles answered and watched as Raven nodded with a pout and headed back in the other direction.
It wasn't long before Charles reached the library, opening the tall door to the room and entering. The library looked as modern as any other room in the governmental facility. The walls were sleek and white, the tables and shelves were metallic, while the chairs were trimmed with black leather. It certainly looked neat, but in comparison with Charles' mansion, it wasn't nearly as comforting or warm. The telepath walked over to the shelves full of books and picked out one about the Evolution of Mankind – it was remarkable that he remembered this particular piece of writing from the myriad of articles and books that he read for his doctoral thesis. Taking the book into his hands, he moved back towards a chair and sat down to read it.
Charles was so used to delving deeply into everything that he sat his mind to, that reading in itself came as a second nature to him – whether it be reading minds or books. He became caught up in the pages that flew past his consciousness, bringing up new questions and novel paths of analysis. It was incredible how much reading a book, even for a second or a third time over, was similar to reading a mind. Even if the text is the same, the interpretation of the contents and therefore what was actually being read is ever-changing and ever-dependant on the context of both the book and the reader. He didn't keep track of the amount of pages that he read through, nor the amount of time that he spent being absorbed in it. In a sense, it was his own type of a getaway from whatever troubled him. To relive books, to relive memories – it was something that could get him away from the concerns of the present, and from the thought of not being able to comfort his friend and letting him walk off just like that, most likely still in distress.
Suddenly the half-opened door to the library was opened further and Erik stood at the entrance. Charles instantly looked up with a blink of surprise as the object of his thoughts abruptly stood before him.
"May I come in?" The metal-bender asked.
"Of course, my friend! Please do..." Charles answered with a smile, placing his book to the side and getting up from his seat to take a step towards the other.
Erik slowly closed the door behind him as he entered the room fully, before turning his steel-blue gaze towards his telepath friend. "I knew I'd find you here." He said with a faint trace of a smile, before taking on a serious expression once more.
After a short pause, Erik continued. "I shouldn't have acted like that, not with you. I value your opinion and I always try to consider it." The taller man spoke while pacing lightly across the tiles of the cold floor, before bringing up his hand to stop his counterpart from interrupting him. "And I do understand why this cooperation is important for you... and why we are working with the CIA. Therefore, I should not have taken out my frustration on you like that."
"No Erik, that's alright. I'm sorry that I wasn't more considerate of your situation, it was selfish of me to insist the way I did." Charles voiced, shaking his head softly at himself.
"Don't say that, Charles. You are the most considerate person I have ever known, and in every situation you try to do what would be best for all. That is truly to be commended." Erik said earnestly, catching the other's gaze as he stopped pacing and turned to face his friend fully. "You did nothing wrong, Charles. I am far from considering those government lackeys as friends, but I will do as you ask to work with them on this. So my frustration has nothing to do with you, it's just there and I will make sure to control it."
The telepath couldn't bear hearing his friend accept those emotions of anger and despair, and he took a step closer to the other man. The two men stood less than a meter away, and being so close to Erik, he could sense the other's emotions as bright as daylight. "Erik - that is what I want to help you with. I can feel your distress... you have to learn to let it go." He said softly.
The magnet-inducing man briefly closed his eyes. For a moment it seemed that Erik considered what the other said, but when his eyes opened, his face showed clear signs of tension. "That's not possible."
"It is possible." Charles replied assuredly.
Erik had the sudden urge to believe the young professor, before shaking his head as his lips curved into a sad smile and he changed the topic, "Would you mind if we have a round of…"
"Chess?" The younger man finished the other's sentence and both of them exchanged reluctant but warm smiles. "No, I don't mind at all…" He motioned towards the two chairs surrounding a square table before stepping away from his chess-partner and moving towards a closed drawer. He was hesitant to leave the previous topic, but he wasn't going to press the matter at the moment. Time was an important factor in this, and it was important to let Erik sort through his own emotions. The mind-reading mutant picked up the board game and positioned it on the table, watching as Erik walked over to the table as well.
"Would you like something to drink?" The man in the high turtleneck asked.
Charles glanced at the other with a chuckle. "This is the second time in twenty-four hours that you're trying to get me drunk, Erik."
Erik replied with an amused laughter. "Trust me, if I was trying to get you drunk, you wouldn't be able to walk straight by now."
The telepath grinned playfully, "Alright, I trust you, Erik. How about no drinks for now though?"
"As you wish, Professor." Came the teasing response from the magnet-inducer, who sat down in a seat in front of Charles.
The match started as soon as all the pieces were in place. Charles played the white figures, while Erik chose his usual black ones. For both men, the game was a soothing source of relaxation when they needed it, but at the same time it served as a game of friendly competition, self-improvement and self-exploration, as well as an opportunity to enjoy each other's company.
As they went through the early stages of the game, Erik picked up the white bishop that was eaten by his black knight, and let the figure slide down his fingers into his palm, holding it softly before placing it beside the board to indicate its defeated state. His piercing grey-blue eyes turned upwards to trace his gaze over Charles' contemplating features. The soft lines of his face were slightly tensed with thought and he noticed the slight wrinkles on the other's forehead, which were gently covered by a few wavy bangs.
"What are you thinking about, Charles?"
"Oh, not much. Just about our collaboration with the government." Charles answered without taking his eyes off the game-board.
"So you're still wondering about the same question, are you?" Erik voiced with a smirk, to which Charles lifted a surprised eyebrow as he brought his gaze up.
"I am tempted to believe that you are a better telepath than I am."
"One does not have to be a telepath to read you, Charles. At least not I." Erik answered. He wasn't sure if the other realized how many hints the telepath was giving to a person with an analytical mind-frame, or rather to Erik specifically – who was better informed on the context of situations regarding Charles than anyone else.
"As for answering your question, I am going to clarify my previous response. The reason that I'm here has little to do with the CIA." The metal-bender said, shifting his position in the chair to sit upright and lean slightly forward for emphasis. "I am not here because of them; you should know that by now. I am here because we are a team, you and I. And together we can do anything."
Charles was struck by the sincerity of the other's tone and words, and after a long pause, his features expressed clear delight. "I appreciate your vote of confidence."
"As you should." Erik added with a hint of teasing, leaning back in his chair once more.
The young professor chuckled and placed his next move on the board. "No, I agree. We are an amazing team and our strength lies in staying together, supporting and trusting one another. And the same goes for the kids as well. They have to be able to work together as well as with the CIA. It's a great opportunity for us."
"I'm not talking about them, Charles.." Erik responded solidly, his jaw clenching in a sign of frustration.
"Erik, we can't afford to ignore any help that we can get. If the CIA didn't come along, I wouldn't have even known about Shaw."
The metal-bender took a deep breath and it was obvious that he was about to throw back a retort, before a sudden knocking sounded at the door.
Charles paused. "Come in, Moira –" He spoke, as he sensed the presence of the agent behind the door; and before he finished speaking, Moira had already opened the door and entered the room.
"Good thing I met Raven and she told me where to find you. Oh great, Erik you're here as well. We arranged to have an airplane leaving for Russia in three hours. I managed to convince them to take you with us as well. They didn't agree at first, but I assured them that capturing mutants would only work if we have.. our own on our side." Moira said.
"Wonderful. What did I tell you, Charles? They're allowing us to come." Erik told his friend sarcastically and got up from the chair.
Moira placed her hands on her hips. "Look, Erik, I'm on your side here. I tried calming the officials after you two stormed out of the meeting. It's not my fault they're acting this way. Gosh, if it was up to me, I would have loved to knock some sense into their heads." She said.
Erik sighed and watched as Charles moved to stand up as well, "I know.. I apologize, Moira. Please go on."
"That's alright. What's happening is that Shaw is meeting with the Russian General of Defence at the Russian military retreat in less than two days. This gives us just enough time to get there, organize a disguise, and get him." She explained.
"Sounds good, let's go get ready." Charles voiced and Moira nodded, the three of them leaving the library and heading out into the hallway.
"I think we should take the others with us, they may be of help there." The telepath suggested.
"No, those kids aren't ready for Shaw. You know how powerful he is, Charles. They won't be able to handle that." Erik considered.
"Oh, I'm sure they will surprise you, Erik."
Just as Charles finished speaking, they suddenly ran into Raven, appearing in her 'regular' blonde form. "There you all are! Come, follow me you guys. I won't take no for an answer!" She voiced, leading the three of them into the courtyard.
"We don't have a lot of time now, Raven. And we were actually about to speak –" The young professor's speech was cut off as he noticed the tarnished courtyard, the statue cut in half and pieces of glass on the ground. He looked up to see the large window of the lounge broken, with the sound of music and laughter echoing from inside.
"Er... Sorry, it was supposed to be a surprise party… and we kinda already started before we could find you guys."
"What's going on here?" Moira exclaimed, completely appalled at the mess in the facility. "Who destroyed the statue?"
"It was Alex." The group of teenagers answered far too quickly.
"Hey, we had a great idea! That we should all have secret code names, and we thought you should be Professor X," Raven said pointing to Charles, "And you should be Magneto." The shape-shifter finished with excitement.
"Exceptional." Erik said sarcastically, his face not showing even a hint of a smile at such a childish display.
"We have a job to do, and I expect more from all of you." Charles said in complete seriousness, trying to ignore the sight of smiles fading from the group's faces, before the three of the older members turned to leave.
"Yes, they definitely did surprise me, Charles." Erik said, glancing sideways at his counterpart, who sighed.
"I guess you're right. It's better if we leave them here, it may be too dangerous for them on a mission like that. They'll be safe far from Shaw and under the protection of the CIA." The telepath reasoned and they headed to the airport.
The airplane landed in Moscow ten hours after its take off from Washington. The plan was to rendez-vous with a military strike-team and to get through to the Russian military retreat much further up north, undetected. When they would reach the targeted area, they planned to wait for Shaw's arrival and arrest him as discretely as possible.
And so they reached the outskirts of the city, before renting a truck that looked rather unremarkable and gave the impression of carrying vegetables rather than soldiers. Charles and Erik sat in the back with half-a-dozen of armed soldiers, while Moira sat in the front and Agent Ruslav drove the truck.
Suddenly they heard a knock on the wooden window that separated the front seats from the back of the truck, and the two mutants pulled up the board to see what their companions were up to.
"We've got a problem." Agent Ruslav said, and Charles could see a roadblock just in front of them.
"I'm so sorry, this wasn't on the map." Moira voiced.
"No matter what happens, act normal. We'll take care of this." Charles replied and quickly closed the window.
"Alright, listen to me. No one moves. If everything goes as planned, they won't even notice us. But it is essential that no one makes a sound."
They heard some noise outside, and Agent Ruslav calmly explaining that they were heading to Siberia to their farm. Then it seemed that the agent got out of the truck and went around to the back.
"Wow easy, take it easy chaps." Charles said quietly as the soldiers became restless, and he quickly got up to his feet, not being able to stand up to his full height due to the low ceiling. He held onto the top railings and brought two fingers to his temple as he concentrated on the nearest soldier that was approaching them.
In the next moment, the latch was opened and the doors flew ajar. Everyone sitting in the trailer was doing a good job staying still, but it seemed unbelievably bizarre that the Soviet guard did not react at all to the presence of six armed, hostile soldiers, pointing their rifles straight at him. It was Charles who did all the work though. He was able to keep control of the other's mind and pulled up an illusion of a completely empty trailer for the opposing soldier to believe. It wasn't long before the Soviet deemed the truck clean and allowed Agent Ruslav to close the doors once more.
As soon as it was safe, Charles sat back down, bringing his hand down and breathing heavily. Erik let out a relieved breath and patted his friend on the knee as a sign of appreciation, before offering him an amazed smile. "Extraordinary." Erik voiced, his steel-colored eyes gazing into the incredibly bright blue orbs of the irreplaceable man sitting closely next to him.
"Thank you, Erik." He replied and let out a breath of air. Such an intense and specific form of mind-control was difficult to perform, and he needed some time to adjust his mind once more.
"Good job to you all." Charles voiced.
Once they got through the road block, it wasn't long until they reached their destination and everyone got out of the truck to sneak closer to the military building. Agent Ruslav, Charles, Moira and Erik positioned themselves just outside of the forest overlooking the building, gazing through binoculars to see if anyone was approaching.
"Where is Shaw?" Erik whispered to Charles once they noticed Emma Frost walking over to the building alone.
Charles bit his lower lip and frowned. "I don't know. And she's a telepath, so if I read her she'll know we're here. Let me try something else." He brought two fingers to his temple once more and concentrated on one of the guards who were standing close enough to listen into the conversation between Ms. Frost and the Russian General. He forced the guard to eavesdrop and therefore heard the conversation himself.
A look of disappointment soon crossed the young professor's features just as Emma retreated into the building with the General. "He is not coming…"
"What?" Erik was at a loss of words.
"So what do we do now, boss?" Charles asked Moira, who was in charge of this mission.
She sighed and quickly answered. "Now we do nothing. Shaw was our target and he is not here, so we're leaving."
"The hell we are!" Erik protested, putting down his binoculars and leaning up on his elbows. "That is Shaw's right hand woman, and that's good enough for me. I'm going in." The metal-bender said and without waiting for a reply, he shifted to get up.
"Erik! The CIA invading the house of a Soviet official, are you crazy?" Moira whispered hastily back.
"I'm not CIA." He replied with a grin and took off his hat, dashing away from their hiding spot and into the forest.
"Erik, wait!" Charles reached out to him but he was too late to stop him. In a matter of moments the barbed wires around the official's house moved like enormous hollow seprents, lifting up into the air and dropping down to constrict around the Soviet guards. The soldiers tried to scream, some being gagged and others passing out from the pain.
"He's going to start World War III single handedly! Everyone, we're moving out!" Agent Ruslav called out to his troops and Moira pulled at Charles' arm to leave as well.
"I'm sorry, I can't leave him." The professor told her sincerely. He could hardly believe that Moira – their friend – and the CIA could so easily pull back when one of their men was in enemy territory. Charles pulled himself up from the ground. Erik was out there and he was in danger, and Charles wasn't about to leave him. It wasn't simply the threat of a heavily armed military retreat, but also of the enemy telepath that worried him. And so Charles dashed forward without a second thought, running towards the building and hoping to quickly catch up to Erik. He stopped beside a few of the still conscious soldiers, all bloodied from the metal of the barbed wire in which they were wrapped. The telepath paused to touch a man's face, instantly calming him and making the guard forget everything. He then quickly continued his chase into the interior of the house, passing by the front doors that were flung open.
It wasn't difficult to follow Erik's path inside the maze of the interior, seeing as all he had to do was simply find the trail of unconscious soldiers lying on the floor with dismantled rifles. The telepath soon came across a narrow corridor that split into one path to the left and another to the right in front of him. Before he could choose which way to go, one of the doors right beside him opened and an angry-looking Soviet soldier came out, pointing his gun at the telepath.
Before Charles even had the time to react, the man's gun suddenly jerked upwards and the magazine holding the ammunition forcefully fell to the ground, while the metal of the gun began folding in on itself. The barrel and handle continued to shift and twist until the weapon resembled an unidentifiable lump of metal, clumping painfully on the hand that was still holding it. Charles turned to quickly glance at the metal-bending mutant, who stood at the far side of the corridor with an unmistakably vengeful expression on his face. Erik's tightly fisted hand gave a sharp tug to the side, and the shocked guard fell harshly to the floor. The telepath swiftly turned his attention back to the solider in pain and instantly coaxed the guard into forgetfulness and sleep.
Letting out a relieved sigh, Charles looked back to the other. "Thanks, Erik." He voiced gratefully, to which Erik flashed a smirk and replied, "Don't mention it." The metal-bender was definitely not going to let anything endanger the safety of his dear friend. He would protect Charles from any kind of harm – this was a fact already long decided by him. He only thanked whatever forces from above that he wasn't too far from this corridor when he sensed the movement of the metal gun.
The young professor smiled and ran up to Erik. "Alright, let's go." He said, patting his counterpart on the back as they continued to rush through the house of the Russian official. Returning a pleased smile, Erik admitted to himself that he was glad for the other's company.
After a few more moments, Charles suddenly stopped as he felt the presence of the enemy telepath beyond the next door. Erik glanced at the door, instantly comprehending the reason why the other had stopped. Throwing the doors open, they both burst into the room – panting heavily from their run. Emma Frost was sitting in an armchair eating a biscuit, half-naked as usual, while the Russian General was on the bed, making rather strange hand gestures. Erik's face remained as confused as before, instantly turning to glance questioningly at Charles, whose expression showed more of a surprised reaction to the display. Being a telepath, Charles could instantly tell what kind of an illusion Ms. Frost was projecting on the Soviet official.
"Nice trick." Charles muttered, and the sound seemed to have brought the General of Defence out of his stupor, who screamed something about the invasion of his home and reached for his gun. However, the professor was much quicker as he outstretched a hand and calmed the man. "Go to sleep." The command worked like a charm and the General slumped back into the bed in deep sleep.
The two mutants were still catching their breath and Charles didn't waste a moment to try and read Emma's mind. She quickly stood up and turned into her diamond form, harshly blocking Charles' attempts and making him flinch in pain.
"You can stop trying to read my mind, honey. You won't get anything from me while I'm like this." Frost said calmly, standing near the bed and clearly waiting for the best moment to escape. Erik and Charles exchanged another look and slightly nodded to each other, right before the female telepath tried to make a run for it. Both men caught her in perfect teamwork and pushed her against the foot of the bed, while Erik instantly bent the metal to keep her tightly in place. Rather too tightly, it seemed – as the metal wound around her neck and began crushing the crystalline structure.
"Erik..." Charles said quietly, trying to get his friend to loosen up the hold or else it could crack the other mutant's diamond skin. But Erik didn't let up – his concentration only intensified and it seemed that he was intent on breaking that diamond neck.
"Erik, that's enough!" The professor called out loudly this time as cracks and chips appeared on the crystalline surface, and just before her head broke off, Erik let go. In the next instant Emma had shifted back into her regular form.
"All yours." Erik told his friend, moving over to sit down at the armchair and pick up a cookie as well as a glass of rum. It was certain that Ms. Frost wasn't going to change back to diamond-form any time soon.
And so Charles was free to explore her mind, instantly concentrating on her thoughts and reliving images from her memories. His eyes widened as soon as he found what he was looking for, and he glanced back at Erik.
"What is it?" The magnet-inducer asked, still holding the glass of rum in his hand.
"It is much worse than we feared." Charles said. "Shaw is planning to start another World War, to annihilate nearly everyone and then to emerge as the ruler of the world. And he is planning to do something about that very soon. We have to act fast."
"What do you propose we do?" Erik asked, getting up from the seat.
"First we'll take her to the CIA, I'm sure they'll want to question her."
And with that Erik reinforced the metal bindings on Frost, securing her in an immobilized state, while Charles forced her to stay calm before calling to Moira telepathically. In a matter of minutes, the CIA came to take Emma on a separate flight to Washington for questioning.
"Alright, we're done here. Let's go back." Moira said and left the room as their military squadron started retreating from the building.
Erik glanced around the bedroom, "Why do you think Shaw sent her here alone? She didn't seem to be doing much."
Charles gave a small chuckle. "Well, for one, she didn't have to do anything much to find out what the Russians are up to, by simply reading the mind of the Russian General of Defence. And then, she could suggest any other course of action to him."
"And you can counter that, right?"
"Yes. I made sure that he forgot everything that happened in the past half an hour."
"So her powers are the same as yours?"
"Well, not exactly. She's a telepath as well, but even people with similar abilities have their own strengths and weaknesses; something that they are more adept with; or aspects of their power that they harnessed more than other parts of it. For example, even if you have a cell that is dividing, the process may be the same each time, but it produces infinite variation." Charles explained.
"So… what exactly did she do to him, before you knocked him out? He really looked rather strange." Erik asked curiously, gesturing to the Russian General that was still lying out cold on the bed.
Charles raised his eyebrows in surprise at the inquiry, "Well…" He brushed a hand through his dark-brown hair, realizing that without telepathic abilities, his counterpart wasn't able to tell exactly what Emma Frost was doing. "It's not much different from what I did to the Russian soldier at the road block."
"What?" Erik asked in confusion.
Charles gave an amused laugh. "I mean, it's also a kind of illusion."
"What kind of an illusion? You seem awfully reluctant to speak about it." He said in exasperation, placing the glass of rum down at the table and turning back towards his companion.
Charles did not answer him, and Erik let out a frustrated sigh. "Alright, if you don't want to –" His sentence was cut short as he noticed a surprisingly sly smile on the young professor's lips, and became aware of the elegant movement of his shoulders as he shrugged off his black jacket and tossed it to the floor.
"Charles..?" Erik raised an eyebrow. Why did the young professor take off his jacket when they were about to leave the estate and freeze from the cold again so soon? He was about to vocalize that question out loud, but his breath hitched in his throat when the blue-eyed mutant in front of him lifted his wool vest over his head and let that garment fall down to the floor as well. Erik swallowed, reaching for the collar of his own dark shirt to slightly pull at the material. It was definitely getting hot in the room, and he wasn't sure if this was the reason why Charles decided to start taking layers of clothes off, or if it was hot exactly because of that. Nonetheless, Erik's eyes widened as Charles began walking slowly but deliberately towards him, making the taller man take in a sharp breath. What was going on? What was the other doing? This couldn't be happening – it didn't make sense – it was all so sudden. No matter how much his mind protested, the metal-bender's cool steel eyes remained glued to the spot where Charles' collarbone began to show due to the opening of the other's shirt. The white garment was starting to be unbuttoned. First button undone…second button undone… and those nimble fingers moving to the third button… Maybe it was the drink that he had? No, there wasn't nearly enough rum in there to make him tipsy, let alone hallucinate – wait! A hallucination… or an illusion?
Erik's face soon reflected his shock. "Charles!" The magnet-inducing man was finally able to pull his gaze away from that enticing skin and to lock onto the other's sky-blue eyes. Suddenly, he noticed that Charles was not so close to him anymore.
The young telepath gave his friend an amused smile and held back a chuckle, lowering the hand that he held at his temple, while Erik's eyes dropped down and he saw that Charles' jacket was still on him, as was his vest, and the buttons of his shirt were all fastened and untouched.
"Looked real, didn't it?" Charles asked - traces of amusement still evident on his features.
"What did you do to me, Charles?"
"An illusion. You asked me to explain what was happening here earlier. Instead of taking things away, this illusion adds... particular things." The telepath answered with a light shrug of his shoulders, and with something akin to a devious smile.
"Dammit, Charles! I told you to explain it to me, not do it to me!"
"Well, you seemed very intent on knowing more about this trick, so I decided to show you. A demonstration works better than a simple explanation, don't you agree?"
Erik took a deep breath and was about to reply, but instead he stopped and turned to leave. "Let's go, we need to get back." He voiced without glancing back, though knowing that Charles would follow. He only hoped that the young professor didn't notice his quite heated and dishevelled state, as well as the slight flush that he felt creeping onto his cheeks.
Note: I hope you enjoyed the second chapter! Please review! (Some *real* action may come next chapter! Hehe, you know they want it… xD)