Chapter Twelve: Hotshot
A/N: Just finished my exam so it's time to celebrate! Have a chapter, you lovely readers!
Across from Tobi, Raven kept fidgeting in her seat, unable to keep still. She obviously hated flying. Beast was flying the jet, with Moira up the front with him. Tobi didn't dare look at Alex, because she knew she would see her apprehension reflected in his eyes. Charles pressed his fingers to his temples, using his telepathy. Everyone fell silent, before Charles winced and his eyes fluttered open.
"The crew of the Aral Sea are all dead. Shaw's been there."
Tobi didn't have to look at Erik. She could feel the pure hatred radiating off him at the mention of Shaw's name. It threatened to overpower her and she wished she could reach out to him and calm him down using her power.
"He's still here, somewhere."
Charles nodded. "He's set the ship on course for the embargo line."
Moira turned to face them, looking solemn. "That ship crosses the line, our boys are gonna blow it up. Then the war begins."
Charles thought about this for a moment, and his next words resulted in shock being written on everyone's faces.
"Unless they're not our boys."
The seriousness of the situation meant that no one spoke. Charles tilted back his head and pressed his fingers once more to his temple and everyone remained quiet, wondering what was going to happen.
A missile was launched from one of the Russian ships. Alarms started beeping in the front of the jet, meaning it was in close proximity. Hank grunted and turned the controls, flipping the jet into a sharp barrel roll. Raven screamed as the jet whirled sickeningly like some sort of rollercoaster ride. Tobi screwed her eyes shut, trying not to think about how much she wanted to be sick.
"A little warning next time, Professor?" Hank commented dryly from the pilot's seat while everyone else struggled to recover as the jet levelled.
"Sorry about that," Charles called, glancing across at Raven and Sean who sat on his side of the jet, "You alright?"
Sean gasped out an unintelligible response, while Raven was quiet, still apparently reeling from what had just happened. Moira pulled a set of headphones over her head and glanced almost coyly across at Charles.
"That was inspiring, Charles."
"Thank you very much, but I still can't locate Shaw."
Erik did not seem impressed with this response. "He's down there. We need to find him now."
"Hank?" Charles attempted.
Hank turned to glance at Moira, who was observing the controls with a slight frown on her face.
"Is there anything unusual on the radar or scanners?"
Moira observed for a few more moments, before shaking her head. "No. Nothing."
Charles's hand dropped away from his temple and he looked defeated. Tobi was troubled. A surprise attack from Shaw was the last thing they wanted. If even Charles was starting to lose hope, she knew that things were looking very bad indeed.
"Well then he must be underwater," Hank ruminated aloud, "And we obviously don't have sonar."
A look of impatience came over Erik's face as he gritted his teeth and sighed, but across from him, Tobi had seen the look of recognition that suddenly dawned on Sean's face.
"Yes, we do."
Charles quickly looked across at Erik. Both men appeared determined as they unclipped their seatbelts and Charles raised his eyebrows at Sean's determination.
"Yes, we do," he repeated.
The jet again started tilting to one side as Charles and Sean monkey-barred their way using the handholds down the other end of the jet. Tobi grimaced as she felt bile rising in her throat again. She understood why Raven hated flying so much.
"Hank!" Charles called, "Level the bloody plane!"
The jet again drew level as Sean turned around to see Erik moving towards him. He jabbed an accusing finger at the man.
"Whoa! You back right off."
Tobi chuckled, knowing that he was talking about the time when – wow, it seemed so long ago now – Erik had pushed him impatiently from a satellite dish in an effort to make him fly.
Erik gave him an innocent 'who, me?' expression as he raised his hands defensively and took a few steps backwards to show that he didn't intend on shoving Sean out of a jet this time.
Hank pressed a button and the bomber doors opened, the wind whipping Charles and Sean's hair. Sean looked down at the vast expanse of ocean moving underneath him at a rapid pace, before glancing rather uncertainly across at Charles.
"Remember," Charles shouted over the screeching wind, "It's a muscle. You control it. We'll see you soon. On my mark…"
Sean's freckled face was contorted with an expression Tobi had never seen before. He was deadly serious about what he was doing and she didn't think she had ever seen him more adamant.
"Three, two, one, GO!"
Charles pushed Sean in the small of the back and he tin-soldiered down into the water below. Tobi craned her neck, but she couldn't see him. After a few minutes of keeping his fingers pressed to his temple, Charles nodded slowly.
"Banshee's got a location on Shaw."
A fierce look came over Erik's face and he released the handhold, knowing what he had to do. Charles charged back down the ship towards him, seeing the way Erik clenched his jaw.
"You ready for this?"
"Let's find out," Erik replied coolly.
A few tense minutes passed when Erik and Charles disappeared below the jet, with none of the others on board really knowing what was going on. However, when the plane started jolting and Alex grunted, reaching back and grabbing the handles either side of his seat, Tobi knew something was wrong.
"Hold on, guys. This is gonna get bumpy."
Tobi gritted her teeth as they all rattled around inside the plane like mints in a jar. She felt very sick and she knew that this had to be the work of the mutant who created tornadoes.
One of the wings ripped violently from the jet as Hank tried his hardest to control it. Erik and Charles threw themselves inside just in time – the jet hit the sand on the beach of Cuba and everyone inside screamed as they rolled around and around before finally crashing to a stop.
Once the chaos had ceased, the jet was upside down. Tobi fought violently to free herself from the prison her seatbelt had now become. Alex took her arm and helped her to her feet, looking rather concerned.
"You alright, baby?"
She might have laughed at him using a cutesy pet name if the situation hadn't been serious. It looked like 'hotshot' and 'baby' were going to be names that, annoyingly, would stick.
"I'm fine, hotshot."
"I'm going in," Erik called, making Tobi and Alex whip around and realize that something else was going on.
"Beast, Havok and Jett – back him up."
The use of their code names made them snap to attention. Charles instructed Erik on how to try and stop Shaw, before Tobi and the other three staggered out from the wreckage of the jet. Across from them, three figures stood tense outside the ruined submarine, which had obviously hit the shore as well.
Tobi looked up as Angel buzzed upwards, unable to believe that her former friend had taken Shaw's side. The red teleporter had a wickedly long knife in his hand and the Spanish man raised his hands, forming twin tornadoes. Alex wasted no time, throwing himself forward and baring his teeth savagely as the red energy shot from him towards them as Hank watched approvingly. The energy smacked into the Spanish man and he hit the submarine with a grunt, but the teleporter moved out of the way just in time.
Only seconds later, he appeared behind Hank, throwing a punch at him. Hank managed to block the blow as the teleporter held up his knife. When Alex righted himself, the teleporter's tail wrapped around his throat, choking him.
"Alex!" Tobi cried, reaching for him – too late. The teleporter had disappeared once more, taking Alex and Hank with him. Tobi kicked angrily at the sand. "Dammit."
The tornado-creating mutant – Riptide, that was his name – smirked at Tobi as she stalked towards him. Tornadoes formed in each of his hands, but the bronze-haired, green-eyed girl stomping straight at him appeared unafraid.
"What has he done with them?" Tobi hissed at Riptide, her eyes flashing with fury, "Where has he teleported?"
Riptide didn't answer. Tobi glowered at him, baring her teeth. Her eyes were flashing with emerald fire, but she didn't take her gaze off him. A ruthless smile spread across her lips.
"You don't know what my power is, do you?" she whispered to him, "They call me Jett. Do you know why? I can bombard you with any emotion I like."
Tobi took a step forward, knowing that Charles would reprimand her for the dark actions she was taking but no longer caring. As long as Alex was okay, that was all that mattered. She didn't know why she cared so much about him, but she just did.
"I could make you kill yourself." Tobi's voice was low and dangerous now. "So tell me. Where is the teleporter?"
Riptide only lifted his head and smirked. "Far from here by now."
Frustrated, Tobi fell heavily onto the sand from the force of Riptide's hurricane, wondering what had happened to Alex and Hank. Were they going to be alright? A familiar piercing scream reached Tobi's ears. She gritted her teeth and pressed her hands over her ears, watching as Sean descended unsteadily towards the beach, with Alex hanging from one arm. Sean dropped Alex and went skidding across the sand. Riptide seemed to have been knocked back by the force of the sonic scream.
"Sean! Alex!"
Tobi sprinted across the sand towards Sean, who was closer. She knelt over him as he groaned, clearly injured. His eyes were wide and he looked like he was dazed as she waved a hand in front of her face.
"Sean! Are you okay?"
A rather peaceful look came over Sean's face and he grinned. "Have I gone to heaven?"
Tobi realized that leaning over him had given him full view of her cleavage. Rolling her eyes in disgust, the only thing that refrained her from slapping him was the fact that he was injured. Alex had staggered to his feet and now dropped down beside Sean as well, exchanging a concerned look with Tobi.
The buzz of wings made all three of them look up to see Angel coming right at them. Alex stood up and despite the fact that Tobi now noticed the panel on his chest that directed the energy was gone, he managed to aim the energy so that it caught Angel's wings rather than her. With a shrill cry, she wheeled around and hit the sand hard. Alex threw back his head and sighed with relief as Sean, picking himself up and shaking the sand from his red hair, laughed delightedly. Tobi grinned up at Alex, knowing that he really could control his power now. He was free of the burden that was the unknowing of what havoc he could create.
"Nicely done, hotshot," she smiled up at him.
Tobi staggered up the beach, one her arms linked around Sean's waist and the other around Alex's. Both boys were injured and she found herself supporting them as Raven pulled Hank to his feet, and Moira and Charles stumbled from the billowing smoke and wreckage of the jet.
The deep groaning of metal made Tobi look up sharply, to where the submarine seemed to be pulling itself apart. Erik stood there as Shaw's motionless body, arms flung out to either side, hovering eerily above them all.
"Today our fighting stops," Erik called down to them.
Shaw's head was marked with blood and he hovered above them for a few more moments, before dropping to the ground with a sickening crunch, making Raven gasp and step back.
There was a metal helmet on Erik's head and he stared almost disdainfully down at them all, before using that metal to slowly levitate himself to the ground in a far more ethereal fashion than Shaw's abrupt descent.
"Take off your blinders, brothers and sisters. The real enemy is out there."
Erik pointed an accusing finger towards the ocean, where the ships – both American and Russian alike – were joining together as one. Tobi's eyes widened as she realized that Erik wasn't lying.
"I feel their guns moving in the water. Their metal targeting us. Americans, Soviets…humans."
The last word was said with contempt and Tobi felt Alex's arm tighten around her shoulders.
"United in their fear of the unknown," Erik continued and his voice was horribly cold and distasteful. Tobi wondered what killing Shaw had done to this man. He turned his impassive gaze upon Charles as he paced towards the ocean. "Go ahead, Charles. Tell me I'm wrong."
After a moment, Charles's shoulder dropped in defeat and he turned and nodded across at Moira, who ran across the sand back towards the ruined jet. Tobi doubted it would make any difference and she looked across at Alex, shocked. The rumbling started in the sky and Tobi released Sean and Alex and took a few faltering steps back as she watched the missiles being launched towards them. All of them, even Shaw's former cronies, watched with undisguised astonishment on their faces.
Just as they drew close and Tobi turned her face, fearing the worst, Erik calmly raised his hand and all of the missiles just…stopped. There was undisguised anger in his blue eyes, anger and loathing towards those who would attack him in their blind fear. Then Erik turned his hand slowly and the missiles in the sky flipped themselves over so that they were facing the ships. Charles turned to face his friend with a look of horror.
"Erik, you said so yourself, we're the better men. This is the time to prove it." When Erik appeared not to be listening, Charles raised his voice. "There are thousands of men on those ships – good, honest, innocent men that are just following orders."
Erik's attention was completely focused on the missiles he was controlling. He didn't even spare Charles a glance.
"I've been at the mercy of men just following orders," Erik replied darkly, and by the look on Charles's face, he knew he'd lost, "Never again."
His expression contorted into one of hate as he threw forward his arm and the missiles screeched back across the sky towards the ones who had fired them. Tobi knew that she couldn't let this happen. She knew that she had to stop it and the most terrifying part of all was, she knew exactly what she could do to make it stop.
"Noooo!" Charles charged across, catching Erik around the waist and tackling him down. There was a brief struggle as Charles attempted to wrench the metal helmet from Erik's head. Erik elbowed Charles in the face and he groaned as he crumpled to the sand.
While this was happening the missiles faltered and fell, some of them exploding in the sky like bright fireworks. Once Erik had subdued Charles, he regained control and they rocketed again towards the waiting ships. Tobi knew this was her chance. Where Charles had failed, she could still succeed. She sprinted towards Erik, catching his outstretched hand and dragging it down with all her might, pouring all the emotion she could into Erik, trying to fill him with a sense of peace.
"Oh, no, you don't!" Erik grunted, backhanding Tobi and throwing her down to the sand. She reached out for his hand again, but he gripped both her wrists in one hand and pinned them over her head so that she couldn't touch him, couldn't control him. Tobi screamed in rage and struggled like a wild animal, but Erik continued to hold her down as he used his free hand to once again control the missiles. Alex's eyes widened as he saw Tobi on the ground, grimacing as Erik was pinning her down…hurting her.
"You don't want to do this!" Tobi exclaimed, feeling so very powerless. Not only could she not use her empathetic power, she couldn't use her super strength, speed or even summon a force field. "Erik, please, stop!"
This only earned her another ruthless slap across the face. Alex roared in rage, unable to stand any more. He wasn't just going to watch Tobi being hurt if he could do something about it. He charged across the sand, hands clenching into fists.
"Let her go, Lehnsherr!"