The street in which Erik lives seemed far more dangerous at day time as Raven and Hank were here. Perhaps, all the criminals need sleep, too, since it's half past midnight. You don't hear a sound and most flats are dark, even Erik's. Is he just sleeping or isn't he at home, Raven wonders. Either way, the plan will succeed tonight. Hank is having her back and the CIA is just waiting for them to show up at the embassy with Erik. They feel the same excitement as her. She looks at Hank who seems to be cool. "Are you ready?" she whispers. Hank nods. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. Slowly, his skin turns blue and furry. He will need to be in his real form for the upcoming fight. Mystique shifts into her blue skin, too.
Hank checks his pockets and looks up at Erik's window on the first floor. Everything is there. "Shall I carry you?"
"No need to. I can climb it up, too." Raven sends Hank a reassuring smile. He copies it.
There is no need to hesitate any longer now. Hank leaps as high as he can and almost reaches the window bank. Quickly, he climbs up to the window and looks inside. The coast is clear and he motions to Raven to follow him. She makes her fingers and feet longer and changes their form to small suckers. She leaps up as well and climbs up fast like a lizard until she is on Hanks's side. "Can you draw a circle on the window with your claws? Then I can open the window from the inside." Raven whispers right into Hank's ear. He obeys and draws a circle onto the window with his sharp claws. Raven tips on the centre of it with her finger and the drawn circle falls backward into the flat. She slips her arm through the hole and searches for the opener. With one move, she opens the window so that both can slip into the flat easily and without much sound.
The window leads into Erik's kitchen which is barely furnitured. It is dark but Raven can only see an old stove, a refrigerator and a set of wooden chairs and a table. Hank goes down on all fours and jumps to the hallway in all silence and tries to track Erik with his animal senses. Raven sneaks to the hallway, too.
"He's not here. The bastard is not here." Hank informs out loud. Raven is disappointed because this throws the time plan a little back.
"We could check his little flat out. What do you think? Maybe we can also make his weapons disappear." Raven suggests and walks towards the room opposite the kitchen. She turns the light on and is thrown back at the image of Erik's bedroom. The room looks like a normal bedroom but its walls are almost fully covered in pictures and newspaper articles of the event in Washington a year ago. Why should he keep this? It was a defeat for him. Raven takes one of the articles in her hand. She has never really read one because she wanted to forget about it. She did not even know that there were pictures of her. The article reads 'Heroic mutants safe the President' and show blurry pictures of herself, Hank, this claw guy Logan and Charles.
"Why do you think he collects them? Revenge?" Hank wonders. He has entered the room and looks around, too.
"I don't know." Raven admits. She always knew that Erik was a mystery but this is also beyond his levels.
"This man is a cryptic mystery. Whatever he had floating in his mind, it will be destroyed tonight."
"Yes. I hope that he's not out to cause trouble. That'd be the last thing that I could bear tonight."
Hank smiles and takes her free hand. "You left a great impact on humanity on that day. Not only mutants started admiring you but humans as well. This is remarkable."
"I don't think that I left such a great impact on society. There are still so many things left to be solved before we will be accepted as full people. After this job here is done, we can focus on that... Can I tell you something? I have a good feeling regarding the future. Especially now because I know that mutants finally have a voice in such a high institution like the American government... and this voice is you." Mystique lets her head fall onto Hank's shoulder. These moments of being so close to him are one of the most beautiful sensations she has ever felt.
"I'm still not convinced of my abilities to be a politician but I hope that I can count on you as my back up in case I will ever fail."
"Yes, you can. But you will never fail... that's why I suggested you." Raven slowly leans in to kiss him but she gets interrupted by the sound of keys turning in the door. Hank is faster than her and turns the light in the bedroom off in all haste before the entrance door cracks open. He is positioning himself next to the doorframe with a syringe ready while he has the Raven another one.
Erik enters his flat silently like a cat. He doesn't turn the lights on and starts sneaking around. So, he knows about his guests. This is no problem. He just needs to come to the bedroom.
Erik is standing right in front of the bedroom now but he hesitates. Raven can see that Hank is waiting for her okay to strike but she hesitates because it's not time yet. Something also tells her that Erik also has some tricks behind. Just a few more seconds.
"I know that you're here. Don't tell me that I didn't warn you." Erik shouts in an angry tone.
A gun fires five fast shots and somebody grunts in pain. It's Hank. Within a split second, Erik turns on the lights in the bedroom and enters it with a raised hand. He takes control of the bullets in Hank's body and pins him on the wall behind him. Hank is trying hard to free himself of his control but Erik is stronger. Good that he didn't notice Raven, who adapted to the colour of the wall quickly, yet.
"You? That's a real surprise. I thought that I have seen everything this crazy world has to offer. But okay… Charles, you can come out, too." Erik raises his hand and lets the bullets move through Hank's body which make him growl loudly in pain.
Raven acts as fast as she can and rams the needle straight into Erik's neck furiously, right into his pulse artery. She does not care if he dies tonight. "Did you expect me, too? Charles is not here, you bastard." she hisses through her teeth while keeping him in a death grip around his neck. Erik gasps for air and lets his control on Hank fade so that the furry mutant falls to the ground. "Raven!" Hank croaks and throws her his syringe over. She rams it into Erik's neck, too, and continues to strangle him. Erik desperately continues to gasp for air and to free himself from Raven's grip but his attempts are unsuccessful. "Come on! Let go, Erik!" Raven screams angrily. She is in full rage now because Erik is still not knocked out. You can hear the metal pipelines and cables in the walls moving at his control.
Hank, as bruised as he is, rises and approaches Erik. The metal bender is visibly weakened but he's still conscious. Erik tries to raise his arm to let the still floating gun fire once again but Hank is faster and covers his mouth and nose with his huge and strong hands in order to cut the air up from entering his lungs. Erik is quivering and a cable pushes though the wall in a loud crack. "Come on!" Hank is fully releasing his animalistic side now. There is this fury in his eyes which show so well that he truly hates Erik and he wants him to be nothing but dead. With all his strength, he is blocking the air from his lungs and for some reason it is arousing Raven like nothing before. How odd.
"Finally." he mutters as he sees that Erik is not moving anymore. Raven lets go of her grip, too, and analyses the weakened Erik. He looks so pale.
"I hope he is still alive." Raven mutters even if she actually does not want him alive. Hank puts two fingers onto his pulse artery.
"Yes, he is. I can still sense a pulse." He carefully opens one of Erik's eyes and checks it. "He is just in a coma… I hope. His physique might be stronger than I thought but for now he is knocked out for at least a few hours"
It is done. The mission is accomplished and the great Magneto is defeated after all. A smile finds its way onto Raven's face but it fades as she realises that Hank is slowly bleeding out. He is taking deep and slow breathes to deal with the pain and his former light green shirt has become red from the blood streaming out.
"Are you okay? I will call you a doctor." Raven leaves the room.
"No. No. Don't.", Hank tries, "I don't need a doctor now. It looks worse than it actually is."
Heavy heartedly, Raven returns to him. She knows exactly that Hank is suffering great pain because she knows how it feels like to have a bullet crossing your body. The two bullets have hit him right in the chest, two in the shoulders and one into his right hip. Raven hopes so much that nothing important was damaged and he will survive this night.
"You need help. I will call a doctor now."
Hank shakes his head and grabs her hand. "I just need some towels." Raven is confused but she knows what to do. Instead of towels, she rips Erik's bed garments apart and hands it to Hank who is trying to take his shirt off. Carefully, she hands him the rip offs which he uses as bandages.
"Do you need some assistance?" Raven offers but Hank just shakes his head.
"No, thanks. I'm fine."
"Are you sure? You are still bleeding and I am sure that you're in pain. I can help you." Raven carefully touches his side and Hank immediately winces in pain.
"See? You're in pain." It hurts Raven's heart to see him like that. She wants to do something but he doesn't let her.
"Raven... I'm fine. The pain is bearable." Hank smiles at her while tying a cloth around his upper chest. His fur is soaked with so much blood. Poor Hank, he's trying so hard not to show her his pain but she must admit that she admires his strength as well because he has fully soaked his shirt and jacket with blood and even the fabric pieces have changed from white to crimson red but he doesn't even scream or shake. He is fully concentrated on mending his wounds. Others would have passed out after losing so much blood.
"Your anaesthetic has worked. Erik is not moving. Maybe we should have kept some painkillers for you." Raven giggles to loosen up the situation.
"They don't work on me. I am too huge for such a small dose. I'd need a few more grams to feel something than a guy like Erik could survive. It has some negative aspects to be like me." Hank smiles but his gaze is focused on his wound on his ribs which he has just tied up.
"But it also has some benefits." Raven says in a calm voice. She tries to hold her tears back. On one hand she is happy that the Erik hunt is over now once for all but on the other one it hurts her so much to see Hank in pain and bleeding. This trip to Paris has changed her a lot. Since she has arrived here with Hank, her ice cold armour has cracked and she actually feels so much more than just hate and anger. Suddenly, she is able to feel compassion and love for someone again and this is wonderful.
"Shall we leave?"
"If you are able to I am ready."
Hank smiles at her and throws Erik's still unconscious body over his shoulder in one move. He grunts but acts like it is okay. "Let's leave this sorry place."
Raven does not answer but collects the syringes from the ground and follows her injured but still strong partner out.