XxX Ride XxX
Sean takes them to his taxi that is parked conveniently around the corner from the alley. They bundle into the cab quickly.
"Drive slow," Erik cautions, "we don't want to attract any attention." Sean obeys and drives calmly through the outskirts of the town.
"Where do you want to go?" Sean looks to Charles who is lying across the backseat with Moira. They have tied Charles's jacket around the wound in his leg. The linen suit is definitely ruined Charles muses, but it seems to have slowed the bleeding.
"What do you think?" He opens the question up to the others, he feels tired.
"We need to get the hell out of here fast. We should head down to the docks, radio London, find Logan's contact and get on the boat out of here." Moira speaks quickly and not without emotion. Her voice breaks on Logan's name. Charles squeezes her hands as he rests his head against her.
"The docks will take you into the heart of the city." Sean replies following their train of thought.
Erik, who sits next to Sean in the front, rifle in hand, was quiet. Sean is a little terrified.
"We need to lay low for a bit." Charles admits.
"Get us out of the city boy." Erik decides.
"The country sides then, forest are always lovely this time of year." Sean says with a smile
XxX country side XxX
Budai Tájvédelmi Körzet, is a large dense green forest on the outskirts of Hungary. Sean takes them on to quiet back roads and avoids any road blocks. The road changes to dirt.
"Where are you taking us?" Erik asks suspiciously
"Körzet forest. There's a hunting lodge up here. It's pretty rough, but no one ever uses it. I come up here sometimes."
X
The lodge is a single room, a bed a stove, a cabinet, a deer's head on the wall and a kitchen sink. It's basic but completely serviceable. "People come up here in spring. They hunt the deer and the wild pigs. But they are out of season now so we should be fine."
Moira and Erik help Charles onto the bed, who lays back with a little groan. His leg is bleeding again and the blood has soaked his trouser leg red. Sean thinks the man looks pale now. The woman sitting beside him must be his wife; Sean decides noticing the two small rings on her fingers. The quiet one who sat in the front has come back from the car, carrying his rifle and the radio. "Get the stove started, boy."
"I'm Sean." He reminds the man.
"Erik. And do as I say." The man is unloading his gun. The boy shrugs, hiding his fear and starts trying to get the old stove to work. Sean goes completely still, when Erik draws out his knife. Bone handled and serrated at the tip. He smiles at the boy, the smile is straight and unfriendly, before walking over to Charles. Sean busied himself getting the fire started.
Erik looks at Moira. "We need to clean the wound and stop the bleeding." She nods.
"Charles my friend, this may hurt a bit."
"Oh joy."
"Hang on Lehnsherr." Moira takes off her scarf wets it some water from the sink. He takes the knife and splits open the trousers up to the thigh. Charles thinks about making some sort of innuendo laden joke, but can't when Moira takes of the makeshift bandage, presses down on the wound. Sean hovers nearby. He's never seen anyone shot.
"How is it?" Charles asks without trying to sit up.
"It's through the knee. And you've picked up a bit of dirt in it." Erik shows Moira. There's bone and blood poking out of the kneecap. The fragments of bone will make it awkward to bandage cleanly.
"We're going to clean it, and Charles I want to pick out some of the bits of dirt ok?" He means bone.
"Sounds fun," Charles can already guess what Erik means by dirt, knowing he'd bled too much for there to be any dirt.
"Yes it's going to jolly." Erik says sarcastically, looking at Charles with concern. "Get some water for us kid." Mutely the red head obeys.
Erik pours the water over the wound, ignoring Charles, who cry's out, Moira grabs his hand, it will be alright, Erik takes out his knife. Charles faints, after the first bone fragment is removed. Erik flicks out the rest as well as he can. He doesn't dare try more there's blood everywhere. They bandage the leg and stop the bleeding. He washes his knife off in the sink. Moira sags down into the chair besides Charles. Her head in her hands. Erik looks at them, softly almost, and walks outside. He finds the red-head cleaning blood from his car seat, and smoking weed.
"I have to go," Sean says nervously extinguishing the cigarette; he wanted to have this conversation with the woman. Erik looks at him unmoved. The boy represents a risk. "The cab's not mine. If I don't have enough in fares and cash I get in trouble. " The boy says explaining. He's seen all their faces. Worse he knows their real names. Sean backs away from the car as Erik raises his gun. "I can help you OK. Let me go and I'll be quiet I promise."
"Erik!" Moira glares at him from the doorway, and gives a calculating smirk. "Let him help us. You can always shoot him later." Damn it Sean thinks. He thought he had an ally in the female. Moira goes back in. But it is a victory; Sean thinks and gives the man another grin. Erik just smiles back. The boy whitens a bit and looks away quickly. Deliberately not making eye contact, he takes the jacket from the back of the car, walks past Erik and goes inside to Charles.
The little Englishman is still unconscious. Red blood has soaked into the mattress, the woman is holding his hand. The red-head blinked recognizing they both wore rings, they were married. The bed has no blankets. He puts the black coat over Xavier. Moira gives him a small tired smile, "thank you."
"Will he be okay?"
"I think so."
"Boy, get out here." Erik calls Sean outside
X
He finds Erik looking at him from the side of the building.
Erik is smiling at him again, Sean is worried.
"We need to do some shopping."
X
Shopping by Erik's standards involves break and enter. Erik has Sean direct him to a local pharmacy.
"No. Mister, look if you're hiding from the police and you steal morphine they will know it was you."
Erik knows this; he drums his long fingers on the side of the steering wheel, perhaps the only indication he is anxious, as he explains the obvious, "our mutual friend will be in a great deal of pain when he wakes, Sean and we need to be able move him."
"I know someone who can get you morphine." Sean replies with quiet daring.
"Same place you get your hash?" Sean nods. Erik knew he could deal with the street thugs by force if he had to, he considers, "How do you know they won't just tell the police anyway?"
"I'll make the deal, I'll tell them it's for a lady friend of mine. They'll believe me."
"In with the ladies are you boy?" Lehnsherr raises one eyebrow.
"No not like that. Sometimes, sometimes ladies here who don't want to keep their … babies… go to a doctor… he gives them ..." Erik cuts the kid off, he had no need to hear any more details. "And you work for this doctor sometimes?"
"Yes." Sean replies reluctantly, he only worked with the old doctor out of fear.
"Could we get him to help Charles do you think?"
"No. I won't take my dog to that man. " Sean shudders. They call him the herr doktor, the man had everyone thinking he was a NAZI, behind his back. "But I could get the morphine."
"When?"
"Now if you like? They own my taxi anyway. Oh god I haven't got the fare." The boys starts in sudden terror.
"Here" Lehnsherr deposits a couple of notes into his hands.
"Um, thanks. Should be alright anyways, Alex is on tonight and he's my mate. Oh these guys they're roma you know, so they don't like it, um, if you speak German, reminds them of the war."
"No one forgets what the NAZI did." The boy wonders, he had thought with a name like Erik, he would be German.
X
They meet the boy's supplier outside a taxi depot. The contact could be no more than 19, at best, rusting blond hair and very ordinary blue eyes. Not like Charles, Erik thinks in a very private part of his mind. What is surprising is that the boy is American, and speaks terrible Russian. He begins to speak frantically to the other kid, and they return to whispered English. "This is my mate he's Alex". Sean is so open. But the other boy is more cautious, he looks Erik up and down. Alex raises a gun.
"You're dangerous."
"So are you." The answer is a complement. Erik smiles small with just the edges of his teeth, before he lunges forward and disarms the kid. Movements sharp and efficient. The machine gun is now in Erik's hands, aimed at the two young thugs. "You need to learn to control that weapon before you point it at someone." Alex curses still not backing down, he draws a small pocket knife.
Sean steps in between them.
"Alex please listen, don't, he was with the wolfman." Charles, Erik thinks, would have won this lost boy over without a fight. Unfortunately for the kids he is not Charles. He cocks the weapon. "Give me the morphine, and no one will get hurt."
"You worked with the guy with the sideburns and the hair didn't you?" Erik doesn't move. The other reconsiders, the knife falling to his side. " I heard your man bit the big one. So you must really need this shit. So I'll give you the morphine, if you take us back to England with you."
"You're not really in a position to bargain with me now." He almost laughs. He'll put them in the back of the car, bury them in the forest.
"All I have to do is scream mister and all the goons in that taxi rank I'll be out here." Sean replies carefully, not missing the murder in the others eyes.
Erik looks at them both, he could shoot them where they stand, they wouldn't really have time to scream, or he could tell a little white lie and avoid the risk.
"Alright." Erik smiles to himself and thinks Xavier would be almost proud of him at this moment.
Later dosed on a decent amount of morphine Charles meets them both, and is sentimentally touched by their loyalty to Logan. After a few conversations both Sean and Alex are made part of the British secret service. Moira calls to London; on a night that Charles knows only Hank will be on the communication board. Hank and Hank alone, he tells her before falling into a drugged fevered sleep.
Erik gets them back into the country unscathed.
They live.
They never find the traitors.