Disclaimer: I don't own anything and I'm back for another chapter.
They're back in the paneled metal sphere, just Hank, Erik, and Charles this time. Raven wanted to come, and nearly threw a fit. Charles spoke to her gently, and perhaps with a bit of mental persuasion, she stayed behind without causing too much of a scene.
Erik resumes his place against the wall, arms folded across his chest as he watches Charles. He made sure the telepath ate that morning ("Erik, really?") and Hank was confident that all would go well since he adjusted the machine.
"Are you ready for this, Labrat?" Erik drops his arms as Charles steps up to the platform.
"Always was," he answers cooly.
Hank glances back and forth between the two and adjusts his glasses. He clears his throat like he wants to say something, but instead just turns his back and focuses on the many screens and buttons before him.
Charles takes the helmet with both hands and places it on his head. He grips the metal bar before him.
Hank presses a few buttons and with slight effort, pulls a lever with a yellow handle.
Charles is immediately swept back into his place between two worlds. Hank's and Eric's presence are more strongly felt this time around, he himself feels more grounded.
He lets his consciousness stretch to the outer limit of the machine's capability and looks into the sea of bodies. It's like he's joining them, catching snippets of conversation and even seeing through their eyes for fractions of seconds. The mutants, the outcasts, the one's with their fractured DNA, stick out, bathed in color. There are some old, some young, some very young. They're out in the world, interacting, hiding in plain sight from others and from themselves. Some react slightly to the invasion of their innermost thoughts, but most do not. They don't even realize it.
He feels Erik move over to the machine and he knows that he and Hank are talking, but Charles just ignores it and continues to feel everything.
He feels that swell of power; that feeling that he's so much bigger than he is and that he can do anything he wants.
Invincible.
Abruptly, to him, the machine powers down. The helmet is heavy as he lifts it off his head. He blinks a few times.
"How you feeling, Labrat?" Erik asks cautiously, still at the control panels behind him.
"Amazing," Charles answers honestly. "I wish you could try this, Erik. The rush is quite groovy."
He steps off the platform and Erik turns his head to watch him. He wants to move but Hank has him holding down this damn button while he checks some gage or whatnot.
"Thank you, Hank, I think what adjustments you made have really done the-" He stops suddenly.
"Charles?"
The telepath is staring into space, his face a mix of emptiness and confusion. He feels the ground under him tilt drastically, but it's nothing, it's nothing, he's fine, he takes a few steps forward and hit's the metal floor with a hollow thump.
"Charles!"
TBC, shortly
A/N: well this isn't a twoshot
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