South East England - February 13th, 1958
Everything between answering the front door to the point where Charles was sitting at his kitchen table directly next to Sebastian Shaw was a pure blur for the young man. Sitting there momentarily obediently Charles' body was stiff, he leaned onto the table and had his fingers crossed together and squeezing causing his knuckles to turn a lighter color.
The man next to him had been mostly quiet but smiled all the while, Charles could faintly smell whatever cologne he wore and was impressed by the very expensive suit Shaw seemed to be wearing. He was a tall and intimidating looking man, at least from Charles' perspective since Shaw was a good deal taller and definitely older. He had to be at least into his thirties while young Charles was just barely still a teenager.
"You're a lot less chatty and snarky now that we're meeting in person." the older man commented and placed a strong hand on Charles' shoulder and gave it a small squeeze. "I've got to admit you are not what I was expecting after I read my file on you. There was no current picture but a smart kid, going to Oxford and living off of his parent's money I'd assumed that you would look like a spoiled rich kid."
"And I don't?" the teen snapped back immediately. "Well, yes. But I'd expected more of a...sort of 'jock' who spends all of his time fucking girls and working out while he pays others to do his homework. You're much more adorable than I'd guessed." There was far too much pleasure in the man's voice for Charles' comfort.
"Again, and I don't?" That comment of his made Shaw burst out in laughter, "Now Charles, I may not be a telepath like my dear Emma was but I can tell you definitely don't work out a lot. Fucking girls, maybe you do, maybe you don't. Not that I don't enjoy our little flirting here but why don't we get down to business. You're going to be coming with me."
The grip on Charles' shoulder became tighter, just on the edge of painful as large fingertips started to dig through his shirt into his soft skin. "I'll come with you, as long as you promise not to look for the others. I'll cooperate." the young man promised. Shaw laughed again, this time more condescending, "You're acting like you have a choice in anything that goes on here."
Pushing himself to stand up Shaw started to pace directly behind Charles, back and forth just a few steps each way. "You're so young and naive. That makes your Cluster easy targets for me to find, mostly at least. Like I mentioned on the phone, it was either between me coming to see you or Miss Raven over in America. I've got a good feeling about what can come from you and I meeting Charles."
The man stopped his movements and gripped Charles' upper arm tightly and half yanked him up to his feet to face Shaw himself. "You haven't gained any powers yet it seems...but I get an odd feeling you've got the best handle on visiting your Cluster-mates at this early stage. I see so much of Emma in you, she was very similar and she gave off the same sort of feeling I get when I look at you."
Charles desperately wanted to speak, to say something. In such a situation he had no idea what to say, if he tried anything then Shaw would just be violent back and unfortunately, Charles was not like Erik was. He was not tall and strong, neither physically or mentally. In fact most of the times Charles found himself broken and useless, the only thing he seemed to excel at was school.
Summoning up what courage he could Charles muttered, "If I get a power it will probably be something useless like making people sneeze on command."
"Even if that were the case, you're extremely valuable to me as the little heart of your entire Cluster. Now, we have a plane to catch so we must be off." Still holding onto Charles' arm he started pulling the man over towards the door to leave. The younger man was resistant and fought the grip lightly, "Get off! I'm sure someone is going to notice me missing, and what if I tell someone that you're kidnapping me?" he threatened.
Furrowing his eyebrows Shaw grabbed Charles so he was holding both of his arms and slammed the younger man's back into the nearest wall. "I don't give a shit who notices you missing. Humans are no match for us, and you won't tell anyone that you're coming against your will because as I'm sure you've guessed, I can and will find the others connected to you and I can kill them. It might take time but you can be damned sure I will do it."
Having winced at being shoved into the wall of his own home Charles swallowed and nodded, he felt like a coward giving in. Then again, he thought, when in his life had he not been a coward? All his life living with his stepfather, stepbrother, and mother, then fleeing their house and going off to Oxford to escape. Not to mention his many relationships, friendships included, where he had held people at arm's length to prevent any more emotional damage to himself.
Sebastian did allow him to gather a small bag of personal items, though he had gone through the entire thing to make sure Charles left anything dangerous or with the possibility of helping him contact other people for help. "Good boy." he had said before taking Charles out and across the street where a car was waiting specifically for them.
Sitting in complete silent Shaw looked like he was off on a spa day, nothing was bothering him yet he still had a hand loosely wrapped around Charles' arm to keep a leash on him. Blinking a few times the younger man rubbed his eyes once before he noticed someone in the passenger seat up by the driver, the person also looked briefly confused before turning around. It was Erik and quickly Charles tried to keep his facial expressions under control, he didn't want Shaw to know someone was seeing this.
Blue eyes met steel ones but then Charles looked away and tried to look like he was staring at the seat in front of him. Erik looked confused, "What is...going on here?" then he noticed the man sitting directly next to Charles and a list of emotions washed over Erik's features. "What in the hell are you doing in a car with Sebastian Shaw?"
Charles' eyes lit up a little bit, so Erik knew this man already? Desperately his curiosity for the other man made him want to ask how and why the other looked so angry yet frightened at the same time. Forcing himself not to speak though, Erik's frown became tighter. "You're not ok, are you? That's why you're not looking at me or speaking to me, you don't want him to know I'm here?"
Before Erik could open his mouth again Shaw spoke first, "You look distressed Charles, never been on a plane before?" he asked and with his hand still cradling Charles' arm, the man pulled the younger closer in the car. Neither of them had put on seat belts when they'd gotten into the car in the first place. Erik practically growled like an animal seeing that action, "Nazi supporting bastard..."
Shaw must have noticed Charles' eyes being trained on a singular spot for so long because a smile started to spread over his lips, "Is someone here with you Charles? Don't look so worried, the driver knows all about this stuff. In fact, he's in my own cluster, aren't you Janos?" the driver gave a curt nod but didn't speak a single word and focused on the road, seemingly having faith in Shaw as the boss.
"Is it Miss Raven?" reading Charles face and what expression he could pick off of it the man sighed out. "I wish you'd be more open with me Charles, there should be trust in relationships.
Erik had moved to sit next to Charles, the opposite side that Shaw was on and he was staring at both of the other men. "On the bottom of your note, his name was written there last time I saw you...that's why you were so..." scared, sad, worried. Erik didn't have the guts to voice those words out loud. "You came to me because you wanted to talk, and you also wanted some help." To feel safe. Again he didn't word his thoughts.
"I'm going to get you out of this mess." he promised in a softer tone. Erik moved to survey their location, where the car was heading and how much room there was. "You know how you guided my mind last time we were together? I'm going to do the same thing for you."
Charles could feel it, like his mind clouded over and his body started to move slightly on its own. "Wait, Erik-!" but as he cried that out Charles pulled his fist back and directed a sharp punch right to Shaw's nose. Catching him off guard as blood started pouring down his face, "Fuck! You little shit!" the man had not been expecting anything like that out of such a weak-seeming teen and Shaw had definitely underestimated the new Cluster thinking they hadn't learned to help each other at all yet.
Turning Charles had been pulling at the door of the car to open it, then realized he needed to unlock it and pulled the knob up. Just as he was about to open the door and jump out, not caring if he hit the rough cemented street, Charles felt a taser stick into his back and electricity run through his body. It lasted long enough, and strong enough, that finally Charles couldn't take it anymore and his eyes went black as he heard someone call his name.
Location Unknown - February 14th, 1958
When he finally came to, Charles kept his eyes closed for awhile until he felt more awake. Even then he had to peel his eyelids open forcefully, they felt heavy as a lead brick. Glancing around he almost forgot what had happened to him, the room looked like a hospital only without any windows. He was hooked up to a heart-rate monitor but no IV, and his arms and legs were strapped down to the medical bed he was laying on.
Giving his limbs a quick few tugs to see how sturdy the straps were Charles grunted quietly, "Fuck...fuck!" under his breath. Closing his eyes again Charles tried to feel anything through the four-way bond he and the others had, if he could feel anyone's emotions or if he could perhaps project himself to them to ask for help. With no luck, he assumed that his grogginess wasn't just from passing out, but probably from being mildly drugged.
It wasn't long before Shaw entered the room through the double doors on the right side of the room, he was carrying some odd and metal looking helmet under one arm. Spotting the helmet Charles gave it a look of confusion but didn't mention it, "You...why exactly am I here?...From what Emma told me I thought you wanted to recruit Clusters not kill them."
"Smart mouth as soon as you wake up, I hadn't even gotten to wish you a good morning Charles. Very rude." the man countered back. "You are correct though, but some sacrifices need to be made for the greater good. If you don't cooperate you might be that sacrifice so that I can find your Cluster, and if your power is what I'm expecting out of you then...well let's just say we'll be having a lot of fun together."
Turning his head away from the older man Charles refused to look at him, mostly to hide the little bits of moisture gathering in the corners of his blue eyes. Stepping forward Shaw took a hold of his chin and forced Charles to look at him though, this time with a large frown on his face. "I've tried being nice but that isn't working with you, so I'll move on to what I know works."
The man gave a whistle and a man, who Charles recognized as the driver from before, rolled in something that Charles didn't recognize. Little pads were stuck to his temples and then the man held a small plastic piece to Charles' mouth and gestured for him to open up. He put up a little fight but the piece was forced into his mouth, a bite guard to prevent him from biting his tongue?
As Shaw leaned over him he said, "One last chance to cooperate nicely Charles. Tell me where the rest of your Cluster is, join me, and we won't have to do this." Yanking at the restraints as if Charles wished he could jump out of the bed and strangle the older man, he muttered something nasty behind the mouth guard and glared. Giving Shaw all the answer he needed, the older man sighed and waved his hand. "Janos, set it low for the first round. He may come around when he actually experiences pain."
For the second time within twenty-four hours Charles felt a huge amount of electricity start to pass through his body, but this time his captors were going to make sure he stayed awake during the entire experience. He screamed as loud as he could behind the bite piece.
Southern Wisconsin, US - February 14th, 1958
Hanging up the phone softly Raven let out a soft sigh. Irene gave her a look, "No good news from Hank then? Guessing he's not having luck deciphering your DNA for whatever normalizing thingy he was talking about?" The blue girl shook her head and looked disappointed, "I know he's trying really hard though, I told him he needs to sleep more. Sounded like he'd been up since he left here to go work in his lab."
Since changing into her new blue form Raven had taken a small absence from work, using her hospital brain scan as a reason, all the while still hoping her genius friend would have a breakthrough for both of their conditions and set them back to normal. A small blush coated her cheeks suddenly, which was much harder to tell in her new skin but Raven's cheeks turned a slightly darker hue of blue than the rest of her. "He also wished me a Happy Valentines Day."
Giggling at that Irene shook her head, "Look at you, got a crush on a cute nerdy boy." she'd come to a conclusion that she did like Hank, she had been debating it for awhile. After seeing him handle the situation with Raven in pain and changing, being terrified, he had tried to be so soft and comforting that Irene would never forget that.
The two Cluster-mates had also gotten pretty decent at visiting each other and had attempted to go see Charles as well, only to feel that same way as if there were a block of some sort. It had once felt like a brick wall Charles himself had put up and then just turned to pitch blackness, like a void or a huge gap that they couldn't leap across.
Hank had given his promise to try and fix their bodies, and in return, Raven had promised she would try to figure out what was going on with the other Cluster members, Charles and maybe to finally meet Erik.
"Have you gotten any better at controlling it?" the normal roommate asked and Raven nodded back. She tensed her body and a ripple went over her skin until she looked like she had before, rosy pink cheeks, brown eyes, and blond hair. "I'm still not able to control myself for long, I think the longest I've been able to concentrate so far is two hours."
"Well keep practicing, but don't keep that up for my sake at least. You know I don't mind however you look girl." the women exchanged familiar smiles and glances, but then Raven held a hand over her chest tightly. "O-Oh shit! Fuck...fuck I hate this bond sometimes!" Falling over onto the floor Raven's entire body started to shake, immediately she turned back to blue without her proper concentration to keep the illusion going.
"It h-hurts...f-feels like I'm being t-tased or hit by fucking lightning!" she cried out, in an instant, Irene was there and helping her sit on the couch. "Ok let's just get through it like we have with everything else, it'll pass!" and it did, lasting not very long but it had been extremely painful. Looking across the room Raven spotted Hank who had mentally come to visit her. "Hank, did you feel that?"
Irene glanced to the side where Raven's eyes were looking, she saw and heard nothing of course but she had also started to get used to this whole visiting thing. Even though once in awhile Raven would just call Hank up to feel more normal than using her mind.
"I did." the young man said, "So right away I came to check on you. Something is wrong, it's either Erik or Charles and with how things have been...I think it's a safe bet this is why Charles has been unreachable for so long."
Agreeing with a nod each Raven held a hand over her fast beating heart. "We need to focus on meeting Erik, maybe he has a better idea of what is going on so we can help." The normalizing serum would have to wait, both Cluster-mates felt a sense of dread for Charles, worry that something awful was happening to him that they were just now getting the hint at.
Berlin, Germany - February 14th, 1958
The last twenty-four hours for Erik had been the shittiest of his life. First, he had fucked up his job and proceeded to take it out on poor Charles who already had enough on his plate. Then, he had finally figured out the stupid visiting trick only to find Charles in the clutches of Sebastian Shaw, a man Erik despised like no other. Also, he had been so worried and full of distraught when he had been shoved out of Charles' little bubble and back to Berlin that he had spent hours upon hours trying to force himself back in, with no luck.
Erik had been so angry that he had accidentally called all of his silverware to go flying and were now sticking into the wall of his kitchen, even the spoons were embedded in the drywall.
Which lead to the last thing Erik had expected for his day. He'd missed the drop off time for the goods he had stolen. Which ended with two large and intimidating men showing up at his door, forcing their way in thinking Erik had kept the mixture of different drugs to himself to sell. Getting into a fight Erik had won and ended up convincing them he had just had a late night drinking and slept too late and sent them off with their bag of drugs but with his pay cut in half for the inconvenience.
Oh, and he had to stitch up his own arm where a knife had cut through deeply. The rest of him was fine, small cuts and bruises that Erik could deal with easily. With all of his bad luck he figured, there couldn't possibly be more than that, right? Until he felt a stinging and rattling sensation run through his whole body, like the time he had stuck his fingers in an open outlet as a child and gotten shocked. Only much more intense.
It passed but Erik knew right away that it was Shaw hurting Charles, there would be no other explanation. He had personally first met the disgusting man in the concentration camps when he was young. The young thief only had a brief memory of that time, partially from his young age and also just wanting to block it out for his sanity.
What he could remember was that Shaw had been researching something in genes and Erik had matched the criteria, which made him valuable and the lab rat to a lot of Shaw's little earlier day tests on a young, possible future Cluster-mate. At the time he hadn't known what the man was talking about, he had no knowledge of what a Cluster was or could be so he just chalked it up to Shaw being a lunatic and Nazi. He still thought those things of the man.
Now he realized the only thing that had kept him out of the man's clutches for so long, would have to be because most of his files had gone up in flames when the camps had been taken down and some pieces burned. He had been safe, but somehow he had found Charles in his place.
After the electric painfully subsided it left Erik kneeling on the floor of his bedroom, and then he wasn't alone. Two people stood before him, one looked nerdy and scrawny, the other...a blue woman? Somehow it didn't surprise him as much as Erik thought it should. "Er, Raven and...Hank?" The two glanced at each other and then to Erik in same time. "Erik, right?" the girl asked.
"Yes, it's good to finally meet you both. Guessing you're here because you also felt that?" It seemed he had a lot of explaining to do for these two who had been mostly out of the loop of what had been going on with Charles. The explanation didn't take long, a lot of things he said seemed to resonate with the other two with complete understanding, he had to wonder if that was the magic of the Cluster that worked through them.
"So in short, Shaw is a monster and he's got Charles. He probably wants all of us but can't get to us by normal means." Hank seemed calm and together but all three of their hearts were beating fast out of worry and anxiety in the same rhythm. "What's the plan then? We have no idea where Shaw is keeping him."
Raven was pacing back and forth a few steps each, "Charles was living in England, and Erik said that he saw the car was headed for an airport. What resources do we have? I can barely afford a plane ticket at all but I could manage one if we knew where to go. I'm also just a waitress so I don't have anything fancy to get me information." she admitted and started tapping her foot.
Shaking his head Hank said, "I could try to use the FBI systems and see if I find anything on him current or old to give us clues. It might take a few hours though so that I don't get caught and work around all of the systems. What about you Erik?"
Erik was the opposite of Raven, he had been standing like a perfect statue with dark thoughts emanating from his head. "My skills lean more towards breaking into places, hand to hand combat, stealing stuff...that sort of thing. When I was younger I wanted to track Shaw down and kill him, so I have some old listings of his hideouts. If you can figure out where he was last spotted then maybe we can pinpoint what building he's using currently."
"What about me?" Raven barked in, wanting to help. With a blink of his cold steely eyes Erik frowned deeper if that was even possible. "You mentioned before that you're a really good fighter right? I say we keep you in reserves, Hank will find us a location, I'll break in and if things get messy we'll combine my strength with your pure skill and beat the shit out of anyone who tries to stop us from saving Charles."
She hated the idea of sitting and waiting around, but she made a gesture of hitting her fist into her open hand. "I'll be ready then." All of her nerves were on edge, she was going to need to break out her old punching bag while she waited. They needed to hurry, all three of them could feel the spurring of another wave of electrical pain starting to come their way.
Location Unknown - February 14th, 1958
It wasn't until the third time being shocked and having his bite piece pulled out of his mouth, his lips politely wiped with a wet cloth when Charles' mind was finally swimming the way Shaw wanted it. He brushed his hand through Charles' messy brown locks of hair, "Tell me, where is the location of this Erik I heard you call for in the car?"
Trying to fight it, it felt as if Charles mind was on autoplay and he couldn't stop the words from coming out of his mouth. "E-Erik...Erik lives in Germany. Berlin...Germany." his voice was cracked and raw from screaming behind the bite piece in so much pain. "What's his last name?" it was answered with a small "Lehnsherr." which Shaw almost couldn't hear, but managed to.
"Good boy, you can rest now." Shaw planted an almost sweet kiss on top of Charles' sweating forehead. "That isn't far, Janos." the man snapped his fingers, the other man was at the ready immediately. "Yeah, boss?"
"Send Azazel to find and pick up our friend in Germany, tell him to be careful. I met that kid back in the camps, feisty one and I'm sure his temper has only gotten worse with anger and age." Shaw warned and sent the other man off to work. "I'm sure you haven't felt it with how much pain you were in, but your powers have started to show."
"H-Huh?" Charles blue eyes slid closed but he wasn't sleeping, just resting now that he was being given the chance. Now that it was mentioned he did admit to himself that he was feeling different, his mind was still cloudy so it was hard to tell. Something definitely felt off, but right at the same time. Like his mind could reach out but was being blocked by the same drugs and electricity that were messing with his link between the others.
"I recognized the signs and I can feel it in the air, your mind trying to reach out for others but only able to just barely touch the ones near you because of the nice drugs in your system. You're a telepath like my dear, beloved Emma. It looks like in her last betrayal she inadvertently left me a beautiful gift, a replacement for her. A much more powerful one I'd even go as far to guess." his voice sounded far too happy for Charles' liking, which meant bad things for him.
"So..." the younger man had to clear his voice since it was dry and continued, "So, I'm going to be used as your radar for everyone you want to find?"
"Not only that, this means you can create...birth other Clusters. It's a beautiful process that involves melding two minds, it's a bit like sex. Extremely intimate, can be pleasurable and well, it doesn't always become a Cluster in the end. So you can keep trying and trying until one finally starts to form, just like trying for a baby." Now Charles was understanding more why Shaw had briefly joked about being a father-like person towards his Cluster. That was how they were born, Shaw and Emma had done such a thing.
"Let me get this straight." Charles paused to cough briefly and clear his sore throat again. "You're going to keep me tied to this bed, use me as a radar, rape my mind and force me to create Cluster's with you...you're sick. You're so fucking sick." He tried to portray just how disgusted he was in what little voice he could manage.
"Oh, heavens no not just that!" Shaw said faking being appalled. "You didn't think of all of the things I could do to your physical body. You're no woman but mind melding is always ten times better, and more likely to take, during actual sex. At least from my perspective. Emma fought me on that fact for a long time, insisting sex had nothing to do with it." It seemed Shaw had made up his mind on the fact though and that made Charles snap his eyes open.
The sudden light hurt his eyes but the young man forced himself to stare at Shaw in disbelief. "You wouldn't."
"I'll do anything, to get the results I want. Don't forget that Charles."
A/N: So I briefly looked up the history of electroshock therapy for the time periods. I guess it was around but it didn't become more normalized until the 70's?