Lines Drawn

The next day, when they returned to the CIA, while the new recruits were with Raven and Hank, Erika and the others were meeting with the CIA bosses.

"We have intel that Shaw's meeting with the Russian Defense Chief in Moscow," said the boss, as he sat down. "So, go ahead, say it."

"I'm not here to say I told you so," said Moira. "I just want clearance for Charles, Erika and Kurt to come along and the other mutants if they so desire."

"Yeah, yeah, I know, bring along your mutants and fight fire with fire," he said, sighing. "It makes sense, I suppose."

"So, vhat is your decision?" asked Kurt.

He sighed yet again. "My answer's yes. MacTaggart, you have your clearance. If they want to go with you to Moscow, fine. But I'd advise you only taking a few of them with you, if we're to keep this covert and quiet."

"You're actually okay with this, sir?" demanded Agent Stryker, a man who clearly feared and hated mutants. "Sending in a bunch of untrained, unauthorized freaks?"

"Excuse me," said Burt, sounding annoyed. "But these 'freaks' are dedicated, hardworking people."

Burt's words were kind and true and they even won Erika over, but before Burt could continue or Agent Stryker could speak, Erika interrupted. She was quite furious with Stryker and she was having a bit of difficultly restraining her temper. In fact, there was the faint sound of metal rattling and it was starting to grow worse.

"Agent Stryker, I've had just about enough of your attitude towards my kind," she snarled. "Your behavior is childish and pointless. Mutants are different to humans, yes, but people are people, no matter what they are! 'If you prick us do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?' Come to think of it, I knew of a human that shared your attitude towards those who were different, only he was against harmless Jews and actually did more than just talk. Pity he's dead, otherwise, I think you would've gotten along quite well with him, don't you?"

Agent Stryker looked angry at her insinuation that he was like Hitler, and he was about to speak when Charles intervened. "I think we'd better be going now. Our plane leaves in an hour and we need to decide how many we're taking with us to Russia. Please, excuse us."

Once they were out of earshot and Erika had calmed down enough, he said, "Did you really have to provoke him like that?"

"Don't tell me you weren't thinking of saying the same thing," she said, flatly. "Besides, someone had to silence him, if nothing else."

Charles said nothing, but looked thoroughly exasperated.

Before Erika, Charles and Kurt headed out to Russia, they agreed that it would be just the three of them going and they found out that Raven and the others had decided on code names for themselves. Angel was calling herself Tempest, Armando's codename was Darwin, Alex's was Havok, Hank's was Beast, Kurt was going by his circus name of Nightcrawler, Raven was calling herself Mystique, and Sean was calling himself Banshee. What Erika found interesting were the names they'd come up with for Erika and Charles. Raven declared that Charles was to be Professor X and Erika was to be called Magnetrix.

Magnetrix, she mused. I think I'll keep it. My enemies already know me as the Mistress of Magnetism. What's one more name, and one that defines me even more?

After a very long flight, they were in a small truck with several soldiers, driving up to the Russian Military Retreat in Moscow, where hopefully they'd find Shaw.

They were nearly caught by Russian soldiers on the way there, but Charles's telepathic abilities kept them cloaked and they made it to their location without any further problems. Soon, they were crouching down in the foliage, watching as one of Shaw's aerial transportation vehicles arrived. But it was Emma Frost who emerged from the helicopter, not Shaw.

Erika put down her binoculars as she frowned. "Where the devil's Shaw?" she demanded.

"I don't know," said Charles, frowning. "But she's a telepath and if I read her, she'll know we're here. I'll try something else." He placed two of his fingers on his left temple for a few moments before he shook his head. "Shaw's not coming. So, what now, Moira?"

"Now nothing," said Moira, firmly. "We're here for Shaw and he hasn't come, so the mission is aborted."

Erika felt a rush of anger as she started to get up. "The devil it is," she said. "You can leave if you want, but I'm going in."

Moira grabbed Erika's sleeve, forcing her down. "Erika, no!" she hissed.

"Frost is Shaw's right-hand woman. She'll know where Shaw is and where my children are," said Erika, angrily as she yanked herself free of Moira's grip. "Frost is not Shaw; but she'll have what I need, which makes her invaluable."

"The CIA invading the home of a senior Soviet official?" hissed Moira. "Are you crazy?"

"Then it's a good thing I'm not CIA, isn't it?" she spat. Moira couldn't possibly understand what Erika was feeling. Moira hadn't lost her entire family in war and she hadn't suffered as Erika had suffered. "When you've lost what I have to that monster, you'll understand how I feel, MacTaggert." Erika turned to Kurt. "Can you teleport me inside?"

Kurt shook his head. "Nein, I have to see or know vhere I'm going. Othervise I could trap us both inside a vall," he said. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. You've done your best. I'll get in another way," said Erika. She got up and left, ignoring the protests of the others.

Erika set into action. Power surged through her and she was bursting with a great deal of anger, which was unlucky for her enemies, because there was no wrath like an angry and determined mother whose power was fueled by anger and pain.

Quickly, she reached out and trapped several of the Russian soldiers in a net of barbed wire. The wire came at them from behind, in the front and from the side, catching their legs and arms and pinning them down and then pulling them into the forest surrounding the house. Once the area was cleared, she lifted up the metal gate, ran up the path and up to the house.

Two soldiers aimed their guns at her, but she just pulled their guns forward and then forced both men to fall down before she knocked them both. She walked up the steps and entered the house. She was met by more guards in the hall of the house, who tried to fire upon her. She reached out and dismantled the guns into little pieces before knocking out the guards.

"You homo sapiens and your guns," she muttered. What was it with humans and firearms? It didn't make them stronger or better. In fact, in her opinion, a gun was a coward's weapon. "Pathetic. Just pathetic."

Just then, Kurt and Charles teleported in and they appeared right behind her. Erika guessed that Charles must've read the mind of the one of the soldiers so Kurt would know where to go.

"I was wondering when you two show up," said Erika, not at all surprised to see them.

"Can't let you handle all of this alone, now can we?" said Charles.

Erika smiled the tiniest bit. "Come on, let's go."

A few moments later, they entered the bedroom of the Russian Official. Frost was on the couch, eating a snack while the official was trapped in some kind of telepathic illusion, which stopped when Frost lost her concentration at the sight of them.

"Go to sleep," said Charles, when the official snapped out of the illusion and tried to grab his gun. The official complied with Charles's telepathic request and fell asleep.

Frost then got up and shifted into her diamond form. She gave them a smug smirk. "You can stop trying to read my mind, Xavier," she said, as Charles winced. "You're never going to get anything from me while I'm like this."

"And neither will you get anything from us," said Erika, coolly. She'd done her research. As long as Frost was in her diamond form, she couldn't use her telepathy. "But there's more than one way to get information than just a simple mind-scan."

A flicker of fear briefly crossed Frost's face, and then just as it vanished, she tried to escape, but her effort was fruitless. Erika reached out and forced Frost back by making the metal of the bedpost grab her and pin her down. Frost was now shackled to the bedpost and she wasn't going anywhere, not if Erika had any say in it. Charles may not be able to read Frost's mind at that moment, but there was more than one way to retrieve information. Her time with Shaw had taught her that.

"I'm going to make this real easy for you, Frost," said Erika, coldly. "You can either tell us where precious Shaw and my children are, willingly right now, or I'll force you to revert back to your normal form and Charles will pull the information out of your brain. It's your choice."

Frost just sneered at her. "You don't scare me, Lensherr. You're bluffing. You're not going to get anything out of me. Oh, and let me just say, your filthy little demon spawn are never going to be yours again. Shaw has great plans for them and they're the Hellfire Club's property now."

Erika's jaw and fists clenched as she felt a fresh surge of anger. "Don't you ever insult them like that again!" she growled. "They are not anything of the kind! They are no one's property, least of all that monster's, that you worship, you evil little witch." Ignoring the protests of Charles and Kurt, she tightened Frost's bonds so much that her diamond form around her arms and stomach began to slightly crack. Frost then reverted back to her regular form as Erika loosened the metal bonds.

"I warned you, Frost," said Erika. "Pity it had to come to this." She turned to Charles. "She's all yours. And don't worry; she won't be shifting to her diamond form again. If she does, just give her a gentle tap."

Erika helped herself to some of the food and drink that was sitting on a small table, as Charles read Frost's mind. Erika felt somewhat conflicted inside. She hadn't wanted to do what she just had, to Frost, but when she was angry, she lost her control, especially when the ones she loved most of all were in danger. When that happened, she saw red and her inhibitions were lost.

Charles eventually pulled away, looking horrified and worried as Frost smirked again. Whatever he'd seen, apparently it wasn't good.

"Beautiful isn't it?" said Frost, smirking.

"Vhat did you see, Uncle Charles?" asked Kurt.

"Nothing good," said Charles, gravely. "This is worse than we imagined. We need to head back now. The others are in danger."

Erika didn't like the sound of that. She bound Frost's hands behind her back to keep her from escaping, and then Kurt teleported them out of the house before they headed back to the base, praying they weren't too late.

XXX

At the CIA's base, Raven and the other mutants were enjoying themselves in the rec room of Burt's facility. Armando and Alex were playing pinball and Alex was soundly defeating Armando. Sean was half-asleep on one of the armchairs after finishing off a large soda. Hank was sipping a cup of coffee while reading a book. Raven and Angel were talking while they sat one of the couches.

It was then that their fun and games was spoiled by two rather rude agents, who didn't quite shared Burt and Moira's kindness towards mutants. The two agents were walking past the window when they stopped in their tracks to look at them.

"Hey, I didn't know the circus was in town," said the first agent, as the second one laughed. "Hey, sweetheart, why don't you show us your wings?"

"Or, why don't you show us your feet, Bigfoot?" sneered the second agent.

"Why don't you shut up?" snarled Alex, who'd stopped his game for a moment and was glaring at the two agents.

Hank rose up and closed the curtains, cutting off the agents' drivel, but the evening was spoiled nevertheless. Everyone looked somewhat down as that wasn't the first bout of mockery they'd endured that day. Angel seemed to be taking it the worst, judging from the slight redness of her eyes and how quiet she'd become.

"They're just guys being stupid," said Raven, trying to comfort her friend. She hated it too, and she wanted to be able to walk around freely in her blue form, but she knew it wasn't time yet.

Angel gave her a hard look. "Guys being stupid I can handle. I've been handling that my whole life. But that was not just some guys being stupid. I hate it," she said, sounding bitter.

Raven sighed. "Look, Angel, I know it's hard, but we can get through it. Look at my son, look at Kurt. He's gone through a lot and he's doing fine. You've just got to be patient. Those guys make fun of us, but they're just ignorant fools."

"But even Kurt's hiding behind his image inducer," said Hank, softly.

"For now," said Raven. She was slightly hurt by Hank's comment. She and Hank had been taken with one another and growing close since they'd first met and to hear him say that about her son didn't make her happy in the slightest. "But even though Kurt's endured a lot and he's concealing his true form for now, he's willing to wait until we can be accepted. He's still patient and caring. If he can do that, why can't we do the same?"

"She's got a point," said Armando.

Everyone was quiet before they nodded in agreement. Though Kurt's appearance was startling, he had quickly won everyone's hearts with his playful nature and compassion. It was difficult not to like him. The truth was, Kurt was probably stronger than a lot of them, emotionally.

Suddenly, there was a loud noise that made everyone stop what they were doing. It sounded somewhat familiar. It sounded like someone teleporting.

"What was that?" asked Sean, now fully awake. "Is that blue elf of yours back already, Raven?"

Raven shook her head. "No. Kurt's not due back until tomorrow." Unlike his father, from whom Kurt had inherited his power; Kurt's teleportation ability was limited. He couldn't have teleported back from Russia so quickly and he certainly would've contacted her if they were coming back early. "And that doesn't sound like his bamf." One thing she'd always noticed, Kurt and his father's teleportation noises differed slightly.

That revelation seemed to unsettle everyone.

"If that's not Kurt, then I've got a bad feeling about this," said Armando.

He opened up the curtains as everyone joined him at the window. The noise continued and then suddenly, high in the sky was a man clutching Burt. Suddenly, the man holding Burt vanished in a cloud of red smoke and Burt was killed as everyone either recoiled or screamed.

Raven paled as her breath caught in her throat and her heart skipped a beat when she saw the man. She knew that sound. She knew that smoke. She knew those blades. She knew that mark of work. Worse still, she knew him, the mutant, or rather the demon, who was doing the crime.

"Azazel," she whispered.

Hank frowned. "Azazel?" he repeated. "You know that mutant?"

"Believe me, I wish I didn't. He's not a mutant. He's my ex-husband, Kurt's biological father and a demon," she confessed.

"You're telling us that the Elf's father is a freaking demon?" said Darwin, looking shocked. "Your son's half-mutant, half-demon?"

Raven nodded. She had never told anyone, save for Charles and Kurt the truth about her failed marriage and ex-husband.

The fact of the matter was, when Raven met Azazel in Germany, he'd been posing as wealthy and powerful lord. He'd been charming and charismatic. He'd swept her off her feet and they fell in love. Before long, they'd revealed their secrets to one another. Raven revealed her mutant ability to shape-shift and she found out Azazel was a powerful demon with the ability to teleport, among other things. Raven had loved him so much that she didn't care Azazel was a demon by birth, but she was pleased when he assured her he'd given up his demonic practices quite some time ago and was only a good man now. Within a year, they'd married and had a son, Kurt Wagner, partially named for an old friend of theirs.

At first, it had seemed a happy ending was in order, but this wasn't to be. When Kurt was just a few days old, Raven accidentally discovered that, among other things, Azazel had lied about giving up his demonic practices and he had plans for their son—plans that Raven refused to let Kurt be a part of. He'd proved he was just a monster. As a result, Raven divorced Azazel and fled to safety of her foster brother's home to raise Kurt in peace. She had not seen Azazel since that night and now her past had come back to haunt her.

Maybe sending Kurt away with Charles and Erika wasn't such a bad idea after all. She was suddenly quite glad Kurt wasn't in the facility. Kurt had always known about his father, but they'd never met, for which Raven was grateful. Kurt was safer, better off without his father's influence.

"If you know him, then how do we stop him?" asked Angel, as Azazel continued his capture-and-drop-the-agent routine. There were lights turning on and every agent in the facility was on alert as they were being attacked.

"I don't know how to stop him!" said Raven, angrily. "He's the most dangerous man that I've ever met. Azazel can teleport anywhere and he's got powers none of us have!" Azazel didn't just teleport, he could shape-shift, use magic and swords, and he was also immortal and highly intelligent. If he was working with Shaw, there was no telling what he'd do.

Everyone then screamed as the situation quickly grew steadily worse as Shaw's forces began tearing through the facility. Cerebro was quickly destroyed by one of Riptide's powerful tornados. One of the buildings exploded from Shaw's attack. The most terrifying of them, was Azazel, whose swordsmanship skills, agility and teleporting abilities made him the perfect assassin.

Raven and the others were huddled together in their room as per their orders. They were scared out of their minds and hoping they weren't going to end up like the agents that were trying to protect them from Shaw's forces.

"Forget about staying here!" said Armando. "Let's go!"

No one argued with him as they all ran out of their room and into the hall. They tried to help defend the facility, but to no avail. They were forced back into their room and forced to helplessly watch the terrible events. The door was then blasted open by a surge of red energy, and then there was an encircling streak of white that forced them all back. Within moments, they saw Erika's children, Wanda and Pietro, standing guard over them.

Then suddenly, a deafening silence fell upon them and then Azazel teleported into the room, still holding his blades. It was the first time Raven had seen him since she'd left him. He hadn't changed one bit. He looked just like Kurt. He had the same body shape, dark almond-shaped eyes, jet-black hair, triangular face, and pointed tail. But unlike Kurt, Azazel's skin was red, he had a goatee, his hair was slicked back with hair gel, he wore a dark suit, he was considerably older, and his hands had five fingers instead of three.

Azazel gazed them intently until his dark eyes lit up with recognition.

"Hello, Ворон," said Azazel, as Raven glared at him. He pocketed his blades and then gently caressed Raven's cheek. "You're as beautiful as I remember. But I must say, I didn't expect to see you again after you left me."

"Feeling's mutual, Azazel," said Raven, coldly as she jerked away from him. Though she'd been heartbroken when she'd left him, she hadn't wanted to see her ex-husband again. When he hadn't come looking for her or Kurt and had signed the divorce papers, she'd assumed that was the end of it forever. She was wrong. She should've expected it. After all, during their short marriage, he'd kept seeking to please her. Perhaps his actions had been his attempt to do just that.

Azazel just smirked. "Nevertheless, it is so vonderful to see you again, my beloved. You have not aged a day. Vhere is little Kurt, my son? I trust he's well?"

"Kurt's not here and he's fine, thank heavens for that," growled Raven. "And don't you dare call him your son. You stopped being his father when you proved to me you're as much a monster on the inside as well as the outside."

Before Azazel could respond, Riptide and Shaw came in. Shaw was wearing a strange-looking metal helmet.

"Ah, Azazel. Is the telepath here?" asked Shaw.

"Nyet," said Azazel, as he stepped away from Raven. He kept his gaze upon her. One could tell from the look in his black eyes that he still loved her, but there was little that could be done about it, as Raven no longer loved him.

Shaw looked almost disappointed. "Too bad. Well, at least I can take this off," he said. He took off his helmet and placed it in the hands of Riptide.

"Good evening. My name is Sebastian Shaw," he said. "And I'm not here to hurt you. My friends, there's a revolution coming, when mankind discovers who we are and what we can do. When that day comes, each of us will face a choice—be enslaved or rise up to rule. Choose freely, but know that if you are not with us, then you are, by definition, against us. So, you can stay and fight for the people that hate and fear you, or you can join me and live like kings and queens."

For a moment, no one moved, but then much to everyone's horror, Angel took Shaw's hand and started walking away with him.

"Angel, are you kidding me?" said Sean, making them stop in their tracks. "You're going to join up with him after what he's just done? Why?"

"Why shouldn't I?" said Angel, as tears pooled in her eyes. "He's right. We don't belong here, and that's nothing to be ashamed of. So, I'm going with him."

"Vill you not join us as vell, my love?" asked Azazel, as he held out his hand for Raven to take.

Raven just gave him a cold, hard look before she slapped him hard. "After what you've done, I'd rather die than be with you." Once, she'd loved Azazel with all her heart, but finding out just how much of a monster he really was gave her the strength she needed to leave him and raise their son in a better life. She'd moved on and was completely over Azazel. She no longer loved him.

Azazel actually looked disappointed as he pulled away. "Suit yourself, then."

Angel and Shaw started walking away, along with the rest of Shaw's goons as Raven and the other mutants watched.

"We have to do something," said Raven, quietly. Though she knew what Angel was doing was her own choice, they couldn't let her go like that. Shaw was a monster. They had to show her that she was cared about by them at the very least. From everything Erika had said about Shaw and from what they'd just witnessed, she knew Angel was walking straight into a terrible life.

And with that, they quickly formulated a plan and then they acted on it.

Armando quickly stepped out of the room just as Shaw and his goons were about to teleport away to wherever their headquarters were.

"Hey, wait, stop! I'm coming with you," he said.

Shaw and Angel looked quite pleased, while Erika's children retained their cold looks, and Riptide and Azazel looked somewhat skeptical as Raven and her group started walking along the wall of their destroyed rec room.

"Good choice," said Shaw. "So, tell me about your mutation."

"Well, I adapt to survive, so I guess I'm coming with you," said Armando, calmly.

Shaw smiled. "I like that. Please, join us."

Armando nodded and started walking towards them, as if to follow up on Shaw's offer, but then he grabbed Angel.

"Alex, now!" he yelled.

Alex let out two enormous blast of energy while Amando shielded Angel with his body as he made himself turn rock-hard. The plan would've worked, had Shaw not absorbed Alex's energy as quickly as Alex had fired it.

"Protecting your fellow mutants? That's a noble gesture," said Shaw, smirking. "Feels good, doesn't it?" He then grabbed Armando and pinched his face. "You say you can adapt to survive? Adapt to this."

Shaw forced Armando to swallow a piece of Alex's energy blast before he vanished. Armando was not so lucky, as this was the one thing he could not adapt to. Armando looked at his friends with a smile on his face before he turned into ashes.

Raven and the others could do nothing but watch. What on earth were they going to do now?