August 19, 1992
Erik felt someone shake him. He opened his eyes and saw the cell that he was in. It was small, and the glass doors loomed down on him. He turned his head to see who had shaken him, assuming that he had a cellmate.
Alex looked down on him. Although his look was cool, he also seemed a little relieved.
"You're not dead," Alex said, "Good."
Erik pushed himself up. He looked around at the other cells. Thick glass separated them all. He could make out most of the Brotherhood and X-men, although he did note that Mystique was missing.
A collar clattered around his throat. He frowned and touched it.
"It does something to our powers," Alex said, "I've already tried to blast my way out of here."
"Hm," Erik said.
His eyes swept the hall they were in. It felt unfamiliar and new. He supposed that Charles had been at work building since the two had been at the point where they would talk about that. It had been a very long time ago.
Apocalypse and Sinister had not been idle though. The area had obviously been partitioned off into different rooms, including the cells.
"Any sign of Sinister or Apocalypse?" Erik asked.
"None," Alex said.
The hostility in Alex's voice was back in full force. Erik folded his arms and looked into the hall again. He closed his eyes, trying to think. There were too many images swirling around in his head. He took a deep breath.
He focused on a pair of green eyes. They weren't Lorna's though. They were more overworked, a trifle more tired. He focused on the image of Susanna, wondering why his brain picked now of all times to conjure it forth.
She didn't look like she did when he'd last seen her, a woman in her thirties, her skin blackened and charred by the fire that had claimed her life. She wasn't the delicate teenager who'd tried to coax him out of his shell and found a way into his heart either. Instead she looked how he thought she would've looked before the fire had taken her. Perhaps she'd been a little overworked, but he couldn't imagine that she'd stopped smiling.
He had often wondered about her. Much of her information was locked away with the 'what-ifs' of his life. Erik wished she could have told him how she'd survived after finding out she was a single teenage mother, what she'd done. All he knew was that she'd named their daughter after his mother, the only sign that there had never been any bitterness there.
It was a remarkable thought, that she had never hated him. If things had gone differently, she would have been his wife. He would have stayed with her, and they could've raised Lorna together. Instead she'd been the abandoned one, the mother of his child who had struggled for years. There had been no happy ending for her, the only comfort given to her when she died was that her child was going to her father.
It was ironic, considering that Lorna's happy ending had been to leave him. He had thought about that quite a bit since she left, even more after she'd married Alex. In the end he had locked away all memories of her and moved on with his life. The names 'Max' and 'Luna' came up in his thoughts often, but he pushed them away too.
He told himself that it didn't matter what Lorna did with her life, or if she was hurt. She had left. He had no daughter, just some thing that had betrayed him and run away to marry his enemy. It didn't matter what happened to her.
Seeing her in the throes of Apocalypse though, her skin tinged with green and her eyes dead, he knew that for the illusion that it was. Angel had repeatedly told him that he was still Lorna's father, that their relationship was and could be more than what it was. He had ignored her, but there was no ignoring her now. It was ironic really. She was her loudest now that she was dead.
There was too much that he could no longer ignore. He'd seen Max and Luna. He cared about them, cared that they be protected, from the moment he found out who they were. They were his grandchildren, and he didn't want any harm to come to them. He'd heard that Luna had been taken. Someone needed to help her, save her from becoming Sinister's latest pet project.
He pushed himself up further.
"Alex," he said.
Alex turned and looked at him, his expression.
"I'm going to ask you a question," Erik said.
"Not like I'm going anywhere," Alex said.
"How much do you care about Lorna?" Erik asked
Alex narrowed his eyes.
"And if you answer 'More than you' or something equally foolish then I shall seriously doubt your intelligence," Erik said, "I am asking this simply because I need to know where my allies lay."
He saw Alex's mouth open, and held up a hand.
"And if you were to say, 'That's a load coming from you' then I shall once again begin to doubt," Erik said, "I do not ask this question out of hostility or bitterness. As I said, I merely ask because I want to know how far you're willing to go."
Alex gave him a long look.
"For nearly twenty years I've lived my life with her," Alex said, "I've changed my career, and raised two children. I've moved. I know what my life was like before her. It wasn't bad, but I feel absolutely no desire to go back to it."
He laughed.
"I have children, so I know that my life isn't my own," Alex said, "But, as weak as this sounds, part of me would rather die than go on without her."
He crossed his arms and glared at Magneto.
"I may have to repress that one day, but it is damn well not going to be today," he said, "I'm willing to do anything."
"Good," Erik said.
He got up and began inspecting the glass.
"That means that, when we get out of here, I'll have someone in the same frame of mind," Erik said.
"What?" Alex asked.
Erik sighed.
"I'm saying, Alex, that for the first time since you were fifteen, we might actually agree on something," Erik said.
"Sonuvabitch," David said.
The doors to the hanger were heavier than he'd thought. He put his hands out, trying to use his telepathy to open them. He'd hoped that Piotr would be able to get them open by himself, but they were going to have to use his powers again.
They needed to wait for the distraction though, and that wasn't coming as quickly as he wanted. He could feel the sweat building on his brow and looked over towards the Institute. They were exposed, and soldiers could come out any minute.
"Maybe something happened?" Rahne said, sounding worried.
"Deadpool packs too many explosives to go quietly," David said, "If something happened, we would've heard it."
He wished that, whatever Terry and Deadpool were up to on the front lawn, that they would get on with it. He knew he couldn't hold the doors on the verge of opening them for too long.
"Once we get in there," he said, gritting his teeth, "Max, Piotr, and Rogue are in charge of getting as many prisoners freed as possible. There are two people under Apocalypse's control: Polaris and Archangel, and we're going to need to watch for them."
"You can say their names you know," Max said.
David sighed. He could hear the conflicted emotions in Max's voice. He understood. He wanted to make sure that his parents were alright too.
"Mrs. Summers is a mouthful," David said.
"Alright," Max said, his voice irritated.
"Good," David said, "Most of us don't have the power level to fight that. So if you see them, and you're alone, or if there are only two others with you, run."
He cracked his neck.
"Rahne, you're with me," he said, "I need your help in finding my father, my mother, and my brother. My brother might be with the other prisoners, and my mother might be too. I can't imagine that my father will be with the rest of them though."
"What if my sister's not with the rest of them?" Max asked.
"Then you find your father, and the two of you look for her together," David said.
He looked over at the Institute. Just what was taking the two of them so long?
Terry finished rigging up the last of the explosives. Part of her felt bad about what she was going to do, but there wasn't much of a choice. It was either destroy the lawn she'd played on as a child, or use a poor distraction to assist her friends.
"Damn, I'm outta plastic explosives," Wade said.
Terry rolled her eyes and unclipped two from her belt. She tossed them to him and he caught them.
"Wow, this is some grade A SHIELD tactical shit," he said, "How'd you convince them to give you this? You weren't even on a tactical mission when we left."
She just tilted her head. He gave her an adoring look.
"See, this is why I love you," he said.
She laughed silently and headed back into the bushes for cover. Wade finished hooking up the last two explosives and followed her. She took out her gun, making sure that it was fully loaded. She loaded her emergency back up and clipped it to her belt.
"You're gonna stick close to me when the fire fight starts, right?" Wade asked.
She smiled. Although she knew what he meant, she wasn't about to acknowledge it. She wasn't a princess to be protected no matter what had happened to her voice, and perhaps she should remind Wade that.
I won't let the bad boys bruise your widdle toes, she mouthed.
He laughed.
"God, you're somethin," he said.
He pulled out his detonator and ran a hand over the button.
"Blooie," he said, pressing the button.
The ground shook as the front lawn of the Institute burst into flame. David watched in shock, his fingertips still shaking from the strain of holding the hanger's doors in position, as the flames leapt higher and higher into the sky.
"Crazy bastard," he said.
Max cleared his throat.
"Is uh, that the signal?" he asked.
"I'm guessing," David said, "They'll certainly be distracted enough."
He closed his eyes.
"We just have to wait a few more minutes, flush out all of the soldiers," David said.
He pushed himself, searching out minds. He brushed up against a few, trying to make sure that everyone was accounted for. David thought that he felt his father's mind, but it couldn't be. He didn't answer when David called to him.
Briefly he went into what he thought was Jean's mind. He saw soldiers thundering down the hallway, heading for the front. He thought he saw Warren as well, his metallic wings tucked in tight to his body. He didn't see Lorna though, but having one go to the front was better than none.
Terry, Sharon, Amanda heads up, David thought, Archangel's coming your way.
He figured Terry would warn Wade. He didn't want to see what that guy was thinking.
I've got this, Sharon thought.
He flexed his fingers and the doors to the hanger opened up. David could make out what looked like a few boxed in rooms and hallways. They all had their own roofs, but it wouldn't take any soldiers long to realize that there was more light coming in.
