Chapter 10:

AN: I think this is the fastest I've ever updated.

I sat in a chair in the middle of Charles and Erik who were immersed in a chess game.

"Cuba, Russia, America—it makes no difference," Charles said over chess. "Shaw's declared war on mankind, on all of us. He has to be stopped,"

"I'm not going to stop Shaw," Erik replied. "I'm going to kill him," Erik said simply.

I sucked in a breath, "Do you have it in you to allow that?" I asked.

Erik met Charles eyes. Charles said nothing and leaned forward in his chair.

"Both of you have known all along why I was here," Erik told us. "But things have changed. What started as a covert mission...tomorrow, mankind will know that mutants exist. Shaw, us—they won't differentiate. They'll fear us and that fear will turn to hatred,"

"Not if we stop a war," I disagreed. "Not if we can prevent Shaw, not if we risk our lives doing so,"

"Would they do the same for us?" Erik asked.

"We have it in us to be the better men," Charles replied.

"We already are," Erik replied stubbornly. "We're the next stage of human evolution—you said it yourself! Are you really so naive as to think they won't battle their own extinction? Or is it arrogance?"

"I'm sorry?"

"After tomorrow, they're going to turn on us," Erik told Charles grimly. "And you're blind to it because you think they're all like Moira,"

Charles pursed his lips. "And you believe they're all like Shaw," Erik said nothing to disagree or defend himself.

Charles sat forward. "Listen to me very carefully my friend: killing Shaw will not bring you peace,"

"Peace was never an option," Erik answered grimly.

"When Shaw is dead will that bring you peace Adele?" Erik asked.

Charles and Erik both stared at me waiting for my answer.

"I don't know if I should," I began. "He is my father, but killing him will give me a sense of relief. But it will never give me peace," I said poetically.

We sat in silence for several minutes, Charles and Erik only moving to make their chess moves.

"Checkmate, Erik," Erik looked down at the shining marble pieces . Charles tipped his king over and Erik inclined his head to Charles.

"Well done, Charles," Erik said.

Charles drained the last of the whiskey in his shot glass."I am going to retire. It's been a rather long day,"

Charles stood up and walked over to where I was. "Goodnight Adele," Charles said.

"Goodnight Charles," I echoed smiling.

Charles left the room and there was a silence between Erik and I.

"I think I will retire as well, we have a big day tomorrow," I said as I stood up from my seat.

I walked to the door but Erik stopped me and embraced me.

"Adele, I—"

I shook my head and silenced him. "Don't," I whispered. "Don't say anything if you can't promise you will still be here with me, with all of us, after tomorrow,"

Reluctantly, he pulled away from me. "I'm sorry," he said and left.

"I know," I whispered back and left the library too.

I wandered down the hall and knocked on Charles' door.

"Come in," Charles called.

I open the door and saw Charles laying on his bed with a book in hand. I close the door behind me and laid on the bed with him and put my head on his chest.

"We need to talk," I stated.

"About?"

"I know why Erik was mad at us," I stated.

"Why?" Charles asked putting his book down.

"He saw us kiss the other day," I replied.

I felt Charles tense up.

"So Erik-" Charles started.

"Charles, Erik loves me. He was jealous that you were kissing me, and not him," I finished.

"Well, do you return those feelings?" Charles asked looking down at me.

I lifted my head from his chest and faced the door and wrapped my arms around myself.

"I...kissed...Erik," I said very slowly.

"I think you should go," Charles said coldly.

"Wait Charles, let me explain," I said standing up unwrapping my arms and faced him.

"Adele, I think you done enough damage for one night, so just leave!" Charles said harshly.

His expression was a mix of hurt, anger, and sadness. I open the door and looked at him one last time but he was staring out the window, purposely not meeting my gaze and I closed the door.

The sun broke from the clouds making it a new day. I sat on my bed as I looked around the room.

"Adele, wake up!" Someone was banging on my door.

"I'm up," I replied as I got up.

"Get dressed then and meet us at the kitchen," a voice, sounding distinctively like Charles, ordered.

I thought about what happened between Charles and I. If I don't upset Erik then I will upset Charles. I smiled at thought even though I shouldn't.

I sighed. I walked over to a stack of clothes on a chair. I quickly put it on and made sure everything was in order. I checked myself as I looked in the mirror. I quickly left my room to join the others, hoping to eat breakfast before the day really started.

After the group was mostly assembled in the kitchen, and after eating as much as we could, we all headed to find Hank. He wasn't in his room, Charles had told us earlier.

"So, we're going to check the lab," he waved a hand as to make a follow-me motion.

We all followed him in a clustered line, down a somewhat tight hallway. We reached his lab in a matter of minutes. The door was closed, and taped on it was a piece of paper that read.

"Gone to the airbase, bring the crate marked X. Hank."

I raised an eyebrow. Why couldn't he do that himself? Charles ripped off the paper and opened the door. My eyebrows shot up. The lab was trashed. Not the, "there's crumpled paper on the floor trashed", but the, "I let a dinosaur in my lab trashed."

Tables were flipped over and there was glass everywhere. Lamps were laying on the floor and giant metal pieces laying on their sides.

"What the hell happened here?" Erik asked as he stepped in slowly, careful of the glass.

"Bloody hell…" I said under my breath whilst glancing at all the destroyed pieces of work.

I followed Charles across the room. There was a giant box with two pieces of thick tape criss-crossing on top to form and "X".

Charles lifted the lid and stared down. Inside, there were many different styled blue and yellow suits. Each one was labeled with a plaque under it for each specific person.

"Hank has been busy," Erik commented as he took a look.

"Do we really have to wear these?" Alex asked as he made a face.

"There not the best looking. There colors don't even match!" Sean frowned.

"Since none of us were mutated to endure extreme G Force or being hit by bullets, I suggest we suit up," Charles answered.

We all nodded and each took our turn changing in the nearby rooms. Since the house was so big, it didn't take long. I sighed looking down at my uniform. Hank had stupidly not thought of the idea that women have boobs, therefore both Raven's and I suits couldn't zip up properly causing us to flash a lot of our breast.

We all headed towards the hangar where a giant jet plane was being held. We stood shoulder to shoulder as we stared at it in wonder.

"Where's Hank?" Raven asked as she looked around.

There was fog at the hangar entrance and a figure approached us.

"I am here," the figure replied as it lumbered toward us.

We looked towards the source of the voice, a shadowed figure started to walk towards us, as it got closer and closer the figure turned out to be Hank. Or well a bluer and hairy Hank

"Hank?" Charles asked, unsure if that was really him.

Finally, through the mist, we could see him. He was all blue and furry with a face similar to a gorilla. He was wearing glasses and when he spoke, you could see sharp teeth.

"It didn't attack the cells. It enhanced them. It didn't work," Hank said looking at the ground.

Raven shook her head. "Yes, it did, Hank. Don't you see? This is who you were meant to be. This is you, no more hiding,"

Then Erik chose to hit Hank then say the worst thing you could say to a big strong blue guy.

"You never looked better, man,"

As soon as Erik had said it Hank grabbed him around the neck and lifted him up. I didn't try and stop him as I knew that, as harsh as it maybe, Erik had brought it on himself. Once Erik's face had started to become red with oxygen starvation Charles and I shouted out together.

"Hank!"

Both of us looked at each other.

Hank snarled. "Don't mock me,"

Charles came up to Hank's side and started to calm him down. "Hank, put him down immediately, please. Hank! Hank!"

Hank finally dropped Erik to the floor; Erik crumbled holding his neck in pain. I got down to the floor and helped him up, checking his neck for any cuts or bruising. Then Erik looked up at Hank then said in a harsh voice, as he was still in pain.

"I wasn't,"

We all looked at Hank again, taking in his new look properly. Alex crossed his arms then suddenly said.

"Even I got to admit you look pretty badass. I think I got a new name for you. Beast,"

This made everyone break out into smiles at the name, even Erik did but then he covered it up quickly.

Hank growled a little but calmed down.

"You sure you can fly this thing?" Sean looked at him, changing the topic. He had his arms crossed as he stared up at the flyer.

"Of course I can. I designed it," Hank nodded.

Hank he led us to board it.

"Sit in these seats and strap down, safety first," Hank showed us to the seats lined against the walls.

I sat down in one of the seats in the middle and pulled down the multiple seat belts. I clipped them down and pulled down a giant bar that locked in front of me. I fiddled with the seat belts as I looked around the jet and looked at Charles and he caught my gaze.

"Charles," I called.

"Yes, Adele," Charles said strained.

"I'm sorry for the pain I've put you through. I don't know if you'll ever forgive me, but I thought I should apologize before we leave," I said apologetically.

"I accept your apology," Charles replied.

I sent him a small smile before listening to Hank.

"Ready guys?" Hank asked as he sat in the pilot seat.

Once everyone was secured, he pushed a few buttons and pulled back a lever. The jet shook as it started. This was gonna be a ride of a lifetime.

We flew towards where all the military ships were. They were slowly inching towards each other. We flew by through the middle, in between sides, to catch attention to ourselves.

"Looks pretty messy out there," Hank commented as he flew the jet. He made a sharp turn.

We all stared each other, it was almost time to make ourselves known.

Charles raised two fingers to rest at his temple, an indication when he was going to use his mutation. Charles opened his eyes.

"The crew of the Aral sea are all dead. Shaw's been there." Charles said dryly.

Erik and I tensed when he said Shaw's name.

"He's still here, somewhere," Erik insisted.

"He set the course for the Embargo Line," Charles.

"That ship crosses the line; our boys are going to blow it up. Then the war begins," Moira looked at Charles worriedly.

"Unless they're not…our boys," I looked at them with wide eyes.

Charles used his mutation again. He must have done something with the ships because in the next second, one of the ships opened up and launched a rocket. It was closing in on us in seconds so Hank made a dive to the side. We were turned upside down and this way and that to avoid the missile. Raven screamed as she held on to her seat as Sean yelled a complaint. I clenched my jaw as I tried to resist the urge to hurl. Hank gave a growl as he tried to avoid it. The missile continued on its way and hit the ship nearing the Embargo Line.

"A little warning next time Professor?" Hank turned around to look at Charles.

"Sorry about that," Charles replied as he looked at Raven, who was shaking. "You guys alright?"

"Yeah," Raven and Sean both answered as they tried to calm down.

"That was inspired, Charles," Moria says glancing at him.

"Thank you very much, but I still can't locate Shaw," Charles groaned whilst his fingers were still at his temples.

"He's down there, we need to find him now!" Erik growled.

"He has to be down there, this is the one thing he doesn't trust anyone else to do," I spoke up.

"Is there anything unusual on the radar?" Hank asked as he focused on maneuvering the jet between ships.

"No, nothing," Moira replied as she looked at the green screen.

"Then he's underwater and obviously we don't have sonar," Hank commented at her answer.

"Yes we do," Sean took off his headset.

Charles then realizes. "Yes, we do,"

Then him and Erik up strapped themselves then headed to the back of the plane. As they get to the back of the plane Sean points his finger at Erik.

Charles's eyes brightened in realization. Erik and Charles took off their headsets as well and headed towards the end of the jet.

"Woaaahhh, you back right off," Sean pointed at Erik. Erik held up his hands as if to surrender and took a step back.

"Beast, open the bomb bay doors!" Sean shouts of to Hank.

All three of the guys gripping hold of the rails along the side of the plane trying their hardest not to fall over. The doors on the floor opened to show the ocean floor. Sean looked shocked then up to Charles, Charles smiled at him and pointed to Sean throat then shouted above the gust of wind.

"Remember! This is a muscle. You control it! You'll be in here the entire time!" Charles pointed to his temple. "We'll see you soon!"

Sean nodded to Charles then jumped off the edge of the doors and started to scream for the sonar. I smiled, proud of the teenager. Moria picked up the radio and started to speak to the American's.

"Alert the fleet, they may want to take their cans off,"

Charles smiled and removed his fingers from his temples. "Banshee has got a location on Shaw,"

Erik nodded moving towards the planes feet.

"Are you ready for this?" Charles asked Erik.

"Let's find out," Erik replied.

Erik leaned his body down under the plane, Charles hanged out of the door to watch him. I glanced out the window to suddenly see the submarine coming out of the water.

Hank started to pull the plane away towards the island, causing Erik to drag the sub along as well. I looked out of the window again to see the progress they were doing but then suddenly sees a giant gust of wind heading their way.

"Bloody hell", I mumbled under my breath.

AN: Second to last chapter!