September 3, 1974
Charles pushed the wheels of his wheelchair, propelling himself forward. He felt like an idiot. He knew that he would be useless in combat. It would have been better for him to stay on the Blackbird. He certainly had the reach to be able to play his part from there. What was he thinking?
He knew that he wasn't thinking that, in all probability, a great deal of rational thought had shut down. Charles remembered the achingly joyful way that Moira had accepted him back into her mind. He wasn't sure if she knew that he wanted to repair things, but she had taken his presence in her mind as a good thing.
Her faith in him was astounding. He knew that he didn't deserve it, but he was going to help her. She deserved someone who was going to help her. Charles knew that she hadn't regained consciousness: he would have known if she had.
It was difficult for him to control his anger at the situation. Charles had always prided himself on being able to keep a cool head. However, this wasn't supposed to happen. Moira was a noncombatant. Erik had understood that and the Brotherhood had kept thier distance. She'd never been in danger, not like this. The anger was fighting to make its way to the surface, and Charles had difficulty pushing it down.
Ahead of him he could see a few elevators. He stopped and Sean looked at the door marked stairs. He opened it and saw that the way was littered with debris and the bodies of soldiers, making it impossible to go down. Charles knew that he would have had trouble with it even if it hadn't been blocked.
Sean hesitated at the elevators. He looked at Charles. Neither of them felt comfortable with using them, but they were the only way down. Sean motioned forward and the two teams squeezed in, the members of the Brotherhood glaring at Clarice and Ororo. Ororo glared back, but Clarice looked at them impassively.
"This is probably a trap," she said.
"Yeah," Sean sighed.
Charles cocked his head.
Blink, I want you to get your strongest crystal ready, he thought, projecting his thoughts to everyone in the elevator, If it comes to it, teleport us all out of here.
He saw the Brotherhood members wince at the sensation of him in their minds. Lance gritted his teeth and Senyaka tightened his grip on his whips. Once again Toad shook his head, looking almost panicked. Charles could only wonder at the strange fear he seemed to command amongst the Brotherhood.
Sean pressed the descent button. Charles watched as Clarice began weaving a crystal out of air molecules, almost absently. He could see that it was bigger than her usual ones: it would have to be for all of them. She worked fast. He'd helped her figure out how to make her work strong, for her to make crystals faster. She told him it soothed her, and in her early days at the Institute she had needed something to soothe her.
The elevator lurched. Charles heard a twanging noise. Seconds later the elevator began to plummet towards the ground. He saw Clarice throw the crystal at the door to the elevator. Pink light nearly blinded him. The world turned upside down and Charles crashed out of his wheelchair. He banged his head up against something and a weight came down on his arm, not enough to break it, but enough to hurt.
He saw the rest of the X-men and Brotherhood tumbling around in the pink light. There was a crash and Charles hit the ceiling of the elevator. He fell to the floor, but he could feel that he was, for the most part, unharmed. He checked the legs that he could no longer feel. They weren't bleeding, and he couldn't see any bone.
Around him everyone was getting up. Sean looked at Clarice.
"Blink, you teleported the elevator?" he asked.
"I didn't have enough time to make a crystal big enough for everyone," she said, her voice uncertain, "The only way I could do it was to teleport one object."
She sounded uncertain. Sean smiled.
"Nice job," Sean said.
He made his way over to Charles, righting the wheelchair. He turned back and grabbed Charles by the chest. With Sean carrying him he made it back to his seat.
"Looks like Cyclops wasn't joking about Sinister rigging this place up," he said.
"No," Charles said, "It appears not."
He rubbed his hands together.
"We're going to have to take this a little more carefully from here on out," he said, "The floor moved upstairs and there were extra walls. We don't know what else he has planned."
Sean nodded. He frowned and then cleared his throat.
"I want to check something real quick," he said.
"By all means," Charles said.
Sean took a deep breath and let out a single, warbling note. Charles could see different parts of the walls in front of them wobble. Sean stopped and shook his head.
"Looks like he's got some dividers set up," he said.
"Anything we can do about that?" Ororo asked.
"Not that I know of," Sean said.
He glanced at the Brotherhood members.
"Can any of you do anything about that?"
Lance scratched his chin and stepped forward.
"How big are the dividers?" he said.
"Not very," Sean said.
Lance's frown deepened. He shrugged and began tapping his foot on the ground. Charles felt the ground tremble. Beads of sweat appeared on Lance's forehead.
"Okay," Lance said, panting, "see if any are left."
Sean let out another warbling note. Nothing trembled. Sean looked back at Lance.
"You sealed up the different divides?" he asked.
"Not easily," Lance said, "Delicate work's not exactly my forte."
He cracked his neck.
"Can we get moving already?" he asked.
"Sure," Sean said.
Sean walked behind Charles and began to push the wheelchair.
You can stop that. I can get around on my own.
Sean looked down at him. Charles knew how angry he sounded, how it was an irrational anger. Still, he could get around without any assistance. He wasn't weak, although his body had failed him a long time ago. Charles was tired of being treated as such when they needed to be concentrating on rescuing his wife and students.
As you say.
Letting go of the wheelchair handles Sean fell into step next to him. Charles wished he could apologize, but there was too much going on in his head. He reached out, hoping that Moira had woken up. All he felt when he reached for her was a warm darkness though. At least he could feel the presence of her mind, know that she was still alive.
He reached for Scott's mind. It was slightly more panicky.
Professor, he's starting to talk in riddles, Scott said, He seems to think that I'm actually enjoying it. You need to hurry up, I don't like the way that he's looking at Archangel.
We're on our way, Charles thought.
He pushed the wheels of his wheelchair on further. He kept his eyes on the hallway in front of them. Every now and then Sean let out a warbling note and checked the passageway. Every time that they found something amiss Lance stepped forward. He seemed to be getting tired though. Smaller earthquakes appeared to take more effort than large ones.
"Are we getting closer?" Sean asked.
"We are," Charles said.
They proceeded, continuing to be as cautious as possible. Charles quickly touched Warren's mind. Sinister hadn't hurt him, but he was certainly talking quite a bit. He considered trying to contact Boom-Boom, but an unfamiliar presence in her mind with no explanation might cause her to panic. He didn't want to alert Sinister of what he was doing.
Charles did another quick mental scan of the room. To his surprise and delight he felt Moira wake up.
Moira? he thought.
Charles?
I'm here, he thought, Are you alright?
I'm fine. How are the others?
They're alright, although I'm worried that Sinister might not keep them in that state for much longer, Charles thought.
He felt her thoughts solidify with determination.
Maybe I can find some way to distract him.
Charles felt his throat tighten.
Moira, please don't do anything rash.
They need help. He's not interested in me as anything other than a hostage. I might be able to use that, Moira thought, If I can get him angry, or irritated-
No!
The thought came out harsher than he'd intended. Moira's thoughts went silent, perhaps in shock. He pushed his wheelchair forwards, feeling his hands trembling.
Moira, please, he thought, I don't…I couldn't bear it if anything happened to you. Please, just keep a low profile.
There was a pause. Charles wondered if he had shocked her into silence. He wanted to reach out and hold her, to tell her that he meant it and that things were going to change. He wouldn't yell at her again. He just couldn't bear the thought of Sinister hurting her. Having his students in that madman's grasp was bad enough. Moira was his wife though.
Charles…
The rest of her thoughts were drowned out as Sean screamed. Charles snapped his attention to the hallway in front of him. Several soldiers were firing and Charles wheeled himself out of the way. Ororo was concentrating on hand-to-hand. Using her powers in such a small space would have been catastrophic. Clarice began flinging out crystals and he saw that the Brotherhood had wasted no time in joining the fight.
Charles had to admit that the Brotherhood members worked together well. They weren't interacting with the X-men, but amongst themselves they seemed to know what they were doing. They had been trained to work as a cohesive unit. Charles wondered if that was something new to the Brotherhood training program.
Charles?
He briefly reached back towards his wife.
I'm sorry. It appears that Sinister's rolled out the welcoming mat, he thought, I'll be in contact with you soon. I promise.
You're not in the Blackbird?
Her thoughts thrummed with surprise. For a moment he winced, but then again, he hadn't been on an actual field mission in years. Even when he'd been on one he'd remained in the Blackbird with Moira, vetting out different signals. Charles managed a wry smile as the gunfire continued next to him. He was safe behind the wall, but he knew he needed to do something, and soon. He wasn't going to be a deadweight on the team that he'd helped found.
No.
That's a bad idea, she thought.
Her thoughts were edged with concern. He held back his answer in order to reach out and put several soldiers to sleep. As they fell he issued his response.
I'm coming for you, he thought.
He could almost hear her sharp intake of breath.
You…you don't need to prove anything to me, Moira thought.
Charles laughed. He reached out and put three other soldiers to sleep.
It's not about that, he thought, I just…I need to make sure that you're safe. I need to know that Moira. I need to see you myself. In the past we've always face danger together. I feel no reason why this should change.
Her thoughts hummed with conflicted emotions.
It's going to be fine, he thought, I need to concentrate on this. But I swear, I'll be back with you soon.
I'll be waiting.
Charles knew she would. He concentrated on the battle and shoved two more soldiers into unconsciousness. When he couldn't sense any more minds he wheeled himself forwards. Sean wiped some blood off his lips and nodded at Charles. No one seemed harmed beyond the most minor of injuries.
"I can only imagine that there are some more of these guys waiting for us," Sean said.
"Undoubtedly," Charles said.
Sean took a deep breath.
"Let me just check this hallway-"
He didn't have a chance to finish. Charles watched as walls came down from the ceiling and through the walls. The floor seemed to be shifting too. The rumblings sent him out of his wheelchair, crashing to the ground. He saw Clarice move towards him, but a wall came down from the ceiling, separating him from the rest.
The floor became smooth and tilted downwards. Unable to grasp anything Charles began to slide down.