A/N: Until today, it's been return of the disappearing reviews again. However, when I woke up this morning, they were back. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed over the past chapters: I really appreciate it. I'll respond as soon as possible.

Erik watched as Essex suddenly went rigid, small red veins suddenly appearing in his eyes. He grit his teeth together. He knew the rest of the team were looking around curiously, but he'd seen this several times before.

"Charles," he said, "If you can hear me, what do we need to do?"

He's right…God…he's right about the trigger being made all out of plastic, Charles managed, And also no electricity, but…that's because it's fake.

"It's fake?" Erik asked.

All the other team members were looking at him, doubtless wondering who he was talking to, but he could see Logan making gestures to the other two. The feral mutant was also eyeing Essex speculatively. There was a calculation in there Erik didn't like. After today, Charles wasn't allowed to call him reckless any more.

Yes, but the threat is real, Charles said, It's wired to explode in eight minutes even if he doesn't take his finger off the trigger. You need to get out of there, and then you need to get my sister, Peter and Kayla out as well. As fast as possible. I'll try to force him to slow the system down electronically-

"Chris controls electricity," Erik said.

Yes, I know, said Charles, But with the passcodes he's put in here…it's rather impossible for anyone. There's also a DNA lock…

"Charles, we could try to figure out a way to-" Erik said.

Listen, Erik, I really have neither the time nor the ability to argue with you, he said, I want this to end as much as you do, but I want all of you to come home more. I'll get to work here, you get to work on your end.

"Charles-"

GO!

Erik gestured to the other four as he turned and headed out of the room. Logan's hand came down like a vice on his shoulder.

"We ain't leavin him here," he said.

"We need to get out of here before we're blown back home," snapped Erik, "You might heal from that, but I know for a fact I won't, and I don't think Kayla will either."

The grip on his shoulder loosened slightly, but he still didn't let go. Irritated, Erik raised his hand and, with the metal running through Logan's entire skeleton, was easily able to jerk his hand off his shoulder.

"Charles is taking care of the freak," he said, "We need to go."

"I don't understand," said Chris.

"I will explain this exactly once: we need to get out of here," Erik said, "The bombs are going off in eight minutes, and we're going to need Quicksilver to get us out of range."

"What?" gaped Chris.

"I can teleport some people far enough out if ya tell me the radius," John offered.

"Given that I don't trust you, you can transfer Chris out," snapped Erik, "You go near anyone else, and I will find you and you will wish Logan had killed you back in the engine room."

John took a step back, but he didn't have the patience to deal with him. He just started heading down the hall, touching his comm link as he ran. He'd figure out if the other two were following him, although he knew Logan would be close behind. It wouldn't be due to any personal loyalty, rather the fact that, at the end of the day, he probably knew Kayla wouldn't leave without him.

"Mystique, where are you?" he asked.

"Near the exit," she said, "Stryker weighs a ton by the way. He went down fairly easy though, which is- shit!"

Gunfire speckled the line.

"Give me a minute," she said, "I can take care of this."

Erik swore and quickly switched the channel. Now that he was listening, he could hear that there were three other pairs of feet running behind him.

"Quicksilver?" he asked.

"Yeah dude?"

"We're going to need a much quicker evacuation than we thought," he said, "How are you holding up?"

"Good- no, look Miss Wolverine, don't look at me like that! I'm fine, I swear I'm fine!"

The words came through loud, probably louder than Peter had intended. Logan drew level with Erik and gave him a look torn between puzzlement and irritation. Good grief, the boy had a gift he wouldn't wish on his worst enemy to piss people off without trying.

"Kayla, is he alright?" he demanded.

There as a brief scuffle and Kayla came on, panting.

"He's badly dehydrated," she said, "Also, he apparently ran down to the base of the mountain to take care of a problem we had, then ran back up and got me to the point I'm at now. That's at least two sudden altitude shifts. He needs rest. Any way around this?"

"None," Erik said grimly, "He can wait another minute, but no longer than that."

"Should he be getting you out of the factory?" asked Kayla, "Because-"

"No," said Erik, "We're going to be making our own exit shortly with Mystique. We need to get at least six miles out, preferably seven. I'd prefer being able to scout that location, but we need to get out much faster than normal."

"Alright, I'll tell him," she said.

He looked over his shoulder at John and Chris. Chris was struggling to keep up, even with John helping him. As he ran, Erik pointed at him.

"I expect to see you at Westchester in five days to help us put together a deposition and fill in any details. We have ways of finding you if you don't show," he said, "Get the hell out of here right now. You're not going to slow Quicksilver down."

Logan looked at his two former comrades as John made sure he had a secure grip on Chris.

"After that, if I see you outside o something official, I'm gonna kill ya," Logan promised.

John sighed, but he and Chris flickered out of sight. Erik switched channels over to where Mystique was swearing.

"Usually I'd give you time to finish up on your own, but we don't really have that luxury right now. What's your position?" he asked.

"Third hallway from the right," she said, "Some overachieving bastards."

"I'll provide back-up," he said, "This place is going up in flames in…"

He checked his watch.

"…six minutes," he said.

"That was part of the plan. Why'd you move the timetable?"

"Essex planted extra explosives and has a countdown," he said, "We're almost on your position."

"When you say almost-"

He turned a corner and immediately saw the backs of ten guards. He couldn't see Raven, but there were limited places she could be. One turned to look at him, but they were all equipped with metal guns. It appeared only those who went on special missions or outside were given plastic. It wasn't as though it could be easy to create the weaponry.

Erik pushed his wrist out, and five went flying to the end of the hall, smashing into the wall. One of them had time to fire their gun. He moved his hand, sending the bullet into the man's leg instead.

One took off running, but the other four, again, tried to fire. Erik didn't understand if they were born suicidal or if it was some sort extra ability that had come to them during their time with Stryker and Essex. Logan was moving forward, but this was too easy to need his services.

He redirected the bullets into arms and legs. The guns then jerked up, hitting them in the chest and sending them flying back toward the wall with the rest of their comrades. The men screamed in pain, but Erik strode past them until he reached the only spot of cover he could find.

Raven peered out, holstering her handgun. She got up, brushing herself off and edging Stryker with her toe.

"He's alive, but I'm not carrying him any further after this," she said.

"No point," said Logan, his claws sliding out.

Erik swore under his breath, then held out his hand. Logan's advance stopped before it truly began. He glared at him, his arms shaking under the tension. The ticking clock chimed in his brain, alongside hundreds of other thoughts.

"Lemme go," Logan said.

"No," said Erik.

"You know how this is gonna go," Logan said, "You know he's gonna get away with it if we just let him go!"

"No, we don't," said Erik.

"You of all people should-"

"Yes, I should and I do," said Erik.

He curled his fingers together, the words difficult. Raven was holding her gun again, looking between the two. He didn't know what she would do if things went south. She'd want to do the right thing for her son, but that didn't mean she'd think that was shooting Logan.

All he knew was she wouldn't shoot him. Probably.

"I hate that I'm arguing with you," Erik said.

He truly, truly did. However, after everything that had happened, he didn't think he had it in him to deal with another night of wondering if he was Magneto anymore. He didn't have it in him to walk outside and tell Peter they'd committed cold-blooded murder. He didn't even have it in him to lie about it to him.

Nor, for that matter, did he have it in him to lie about it to Charles about the situation. A weariness settled onto him, one he thought he'd left behind with his family's bodies: the fear of disappointing others.

"But know this: you kill him in cold blood and you will shatter the faith Charles has in you," he said. "It will take you years, if that, to earn that trust back. And you're gonna want his trust. You'll want…"

He swallowed, his words bitter and pained.

"You'll want his friendship," he said at last.

"And why the hell's that?" snapped Logan.

He closed his eyes, his throat pulling and pinching together. He could still see Charles turning twenty years ago, walking back inside the CIA compound, trusting him to make the right decision. He'd long been on the fence as to whether or not he had. Shaw had died, true enough, but the world had never made sense again.

Erik opened his eyes.

"When we found you, you were on your own, a one-man revenge mission with no purpose other than death," he said, "For whatever reason, you now have a woman who loves you and wants to be with you. You have…you have a daughter now, one who needs the you that doesn't want to be that man. You were alone then, and now you're not. If you do the right thing, you don't have to be alone again. No one in your family does."

It was a lesson he'd learned all too late. He hadn't reached out to Charles to bring Nina to the school, her mother too. He had wanted to live a life completely divorced from his old one, and that, to him, meant cutting out his old friend. He'd paid the price for that.

"People like him have friends," he said, gesturing to Stryker, "Don't you think it's time you got some too?"

Logan continued to stare for a minute. As he did, Erik wondered why he had ever thought Charles was weak. Even when they had first met, he'd had the strength to say what needed to be said and do what needed to be done, even if he'd been unsure of the outcome.

He let go of his grip on Logan's skeleton. Logan relaxed, but his eyes were narrowed. Erik turned slowly, walking toward the outer wall. He took one step, then another, trying not to look behind him. He knew the wall to the outside was right in front of him, the walls ready to be peeled away to give them the exit they wouldn't have the time to make it to.

Just before he ripped way the metal walls, he heard a meaty sound, and a grunt. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Logan toss a very alive Stryker onto his back.

There was, perhaps, something to be said about doing things Charles's way.