Hey guys, a bit of a shorter chapter today. Thanks for all the reviews, made me very happy! Here's chapter 30! (wow) Enjoy!
Footsteps echoed eerily against the Pentagon's marble floors as important military officials made their way around the tour group that stood in front of a series of pictures depicting the battles of the war. An impeccably dressed blonde woman droned on about the month-long battle of Iwo Jima as she stood in front of the famous photo of American soldiers raising their country's flag on top of Mount Suribachi.
Laurien found herself staring intently at one of the men through her aviator sunglasses, and couldn't help but wonder where he was now. Was he home with his family, his beautiful wife that made meatloaf for dinner, and small grandchildren that visited after church every Sunday for a barbecue? Or had he drunk himself into an early grave, buried by horrible memories that refused to do anything but cling for dear life to his conflicted head?
She was brought back to reality by a small nudge from Hank as the group proceeded to the next display. She glanced down soon enough to catch him placing his electronic remote back into his fanny pack, the device of which she knew would set off the sprinklers downstairs where Charles, Sera and Logan were now headed.
"You couldn't have worn anything less…?" Laurien muttered, searching for the right word to express her distaste of his fanny pack.
"Convenient? Helpful?" He offered.
"Stupid." She finished simply, rubbing her forehead as the overhead fluorescent lights irritated her eyes, despite the protection of the aviators.
"Are you still taking your medication?" Hank asked, faint lines appearing on his forehead as he furrowed his eyebrows worriedly.
"I wouldn't be alive if I wasn't." Laurien murmured, glancing nervously at a passing officer whose gun was clearly visible in its holster at his side. A shiver ran down her spine as she imagined one of the bullets ripping mercilessly through her scalp like a knife cutting through butter.
She ran a hand through her long wavy hair, her fingers lingering momentarily against the protruding scar before she dropped them to grip her sleeve, her nails digging into the soft fabric as she tried to busy herself with the matter at hand.
It had already been a long day. Once they'd touched down in Virginia, Logan had guided them to a house in the suburbs, just outside of the city. They'd only just made it there in one piece, seeing as Charles had insisted on driving the whole way there from the airport tarmac and it had left them all rather tense and green by the time they arrived at the house.
It was quite a beautiful house, the exterior walls were white and layered in stones, and the roof was settled on a long slant that set it apart from all the other generic houses on the street. Out front, the yard was covered in lush grass and plants of different varieties, and every now and then there would be a tastefully placed stone birdbath or bench that was surrounded by bright yellow flowers that peeked up out of the ground and tickled Laurien's calves as she passed.
She found herself envying the owners, knowing that it took a lot of hard work to keep it looking so nice, something that she hadn't the motivation or discipline to do at her own house in Ottawa, where the grass usually grew to her waist and weeds were always prospering.
A woman in her early to mid forties answered the door, her pretty face falling into an utterly unimpressed expression at the sight of them. "What's he done now?" She asked blandly. "I'll just write you a cheque for whatever he took."
Hank glanced back in confusion at a frowning Laurien. She stood next to Sera who was picking absentmindedly at her nails while Logan spoke to the woman.
"We just need to talk to him." He stated calmly.
The woman nodded and opened up the door further to let them in as she yelled back into the house. "Peter, the cops are here. Again."
She pointed them in the direction of a staircase that led into a basement suite, the walls of which had posters plastered everywhere, reminding Laurien with a painful jolt of Dan's bedroom back in Belgium.
She swallowed with difficulty before glancing to her left, only to blink rapidly as the memory of Dan was moved to the back of her mind by what she saw before her. She couldn't believe her eyes. What appeared to be a teenager with shockingly silver hair moved from either sides of a ping-pong table in a wispy blur, tapping the ball back and forth between himself and moving at impossible speeds.
"What do you guys want?" He asked hurriedly, his voice varying between being loud and quiet as he moved. "I didn't do anything." He then suddenly appeared on the couch behind them with an almost finished Popsicle in his hand. "I've been here all day."
Logan exchanged a quick look with Charles before turning back to the teen. "Just relax, Pete, we're not the cops."
"Of course you're not cops. If you were cops, you wouldn't be driving a rental car." He said matter-of-factly. "And not only one, how'd you guys all fit in there?"
Sera scoffed loudly as she made her way over to where a tower of sweet packages was stacked. "I told you we should have gotten another car."
Charles grimaced at her, and Laurien was all prepared to hear another bout of their argument that they'd had in the car, but he wisely shut his mouth and addressed Peter instead. "Wait, how'd you know we've got a rental car?"
"I checked your registration when you were walking through the door. I also had some time to kill, so I went through your rental agreement and saw that you're from out of town. Are you FBI?" He wondered curiously, talking a mile a minute before disappearing from his place on the couch. "Nope, you're not cops." He stated, startling Laurien into clutching her chest as his voice came from behind her. "Hey, what's with this gifted youngsters place?"
They spun around just to see Peter vanish again, leaving what seemed to be Charles' wallet to fall onto a nearby table. Laurien was about to look away to see where he went, when her eyes caught a glimpse of a photo peaking out of the wallet. "That's an… old card." Charles mumbled as he made to grab it, but before he could, Laurien whisked it away from him with her powers and into her own hands.
She slipped the laminated paper out of one of the leather pocket, revealing a photo of the time they'd gone to the beach during the wintertime with the other students and she'd fallen asleep next to Charles at the end of the day. She was wrapped in a heavy black coat and her tousled hair was peaking out from beneath her old red knitted cap, snuggling up to Charles as they shared a blanket between the both of them, the thick fabric draped across their legs. Her freckled cheek rested on his chest as he kissed the top of her head and his arms held her close.
She took a rattling breath, remembering that Alice, an old student, had been rather fond of taking photographs when she'd been at the mansion and had probably snapped the shot and given it to Charles before she'd left when the school closed. Feeling suddenly guilty, Laurien slipped the photo back into the wallet before tossing it forcefully back at Charles and sitting down on the couch, all the while avoiding Charles' gaze.
"Why, he's fascinating." Hank gushed, utterly unaware of what had just transpired.
Charles cleared his throat. "He's a pain in the arse." He said, his voice hoarse and stiff.
"Yeah, well, so are you, I don't see any of us complaining." Sera blurted harshly, causing Laurien to wince tensely as a wave of pain washed over her. She squeezed her eyes shut tightly until it passed.
"What, a teleporter?" She heard Hank ask Logan, as she got out her pill bottle, painfully aware that Charles was watching her.
"No, he's just fast." Logan responded quietly. "And when I knew him, he wasn't so… young."
"Young? You're just old." Peter said, appearing right next to her on the couch and scaring the daylights out of her once again. He held out a pink Popsicle to her and after glancing up at him questioningly, she took it gratefully and whispered thanks.
"So you're not afraid to show your powers?" Hank wondered, frowning from behind his thick glasses.
"Powers? What powers? What are you talking about?" Peter spouted out rapidly, warranting a small smile from Laurien as he gently nudged her with his arm. "You see something strange here? Nothing anybody would believe if you told them."
"Can we cut to the chase here?" Sera called from the other side of the room before accidentally ripping open an entire box of Twinkies with her strength, sending packages flying everywhere as she frowned dejectedly after them.
Peter grinned at her before suddenly appearing in the seat in front of the arcade game. "So who are you, and what do you want?"
"We need your help, Peter." Logan stated.
"For what?"
"To break into a highly secured facility and to get someone out."
"Prison break? That's illegal, you know?" Peter wondered, his words subtly unsure, but Laurien could feel his excitement from the other side of the room.
"Well, only if you get caught."
"Which doesn't seem very likely for you." Laurien added as she enjoyed her Popsicle, hoping to appeal to his teenage ego.
"So what's in it for me?"
Charles sighed, as he rubbed his eyes tiredly. "You, you kleptomaniac, get to break into the Pentagon."
Peter's excitement spiked unexpectedly, causing Laurien to become rather content in turn. He turned around on his seat, squinting his eyes at them all. "How do I know that I can trust you?"
"'Cause we're just like you." Logan murmured, his hand resting on his hips.
"Show him." Charles told Logan, and the man obliged, lifting his fist to show three sharp bones protruding from his knuckles until they were sticking out a foot from his hand. Laurien stared in awe at the man, never before seeing the claws that Sera had mentioned on the plane.
Peter's expression was very much like her own, before he scrunched up his face. "That's cool, but it's disgusting."
Laurien was vaguely aware of Sera moving about in the corner of her eye, but she flinched when an object was thrown at her and lifted her hand to stop it with her powers. She glanced up and saw that a Twinkie package was floating before her and across the room, Sera was grinning childishly.
"How about that? Is that disgusting?" She asked Peter before looking back at Laurien and saw her unimpressed expression. "What? I thought that he should see something other than Logan's misplaced boner." She then glanced at Logan. "Really, man, you should get that looked at."
Logan responded with a low growl before retracting his claws as Laurien smacked Sera with the Twinkie and got to her feet. "Does he remind you of someone?" She asked Hank quietly once she'd reached him as they all made their way up the stairs.
Hank frowned. "No, I don't think so. Why?"
Laurien shook her head. "Nothing, I guess I'm just imagining it."
Laurien wondered to herself as she continued following the tour group, only to suddenly hear the fire alarm blare in her ears as Hank's controller reached its maximum level of inflicting chaos.
"That's our cue." Hank murmured as the blonde tour guide hurriedly tried to usher them toward the nearest exit.
Laurien made to follow him, but stopped dead in her tracks as the group passed the staircase that Charles, Sera and Logan had descended only a few minutes earlier. Charles had declined her request to go down to the kitchens with them, sidelining her to stay with Hank and wait around as they retrieved Erik. She'd be lying if she said that she wasn't even a little bit annoyed when he'd said no, as if she would hinder their attempt. The way she saw it, he was the one without his powers, not her. She couldn't help but think that there was something personal in his eyes before he left, that he didn't want her to be there when Erik was released and that made her uneasy.
Looking over her shoulder at Hank's back which was growing smaller and smaller as he left with the group, Laurien made up her mind and started to descend the staircase as fast as she could. It didn't take her too long before she reached the floor that she'd overheard Charles mention and as she headed down a hallway with an unbearably low ceiling that made her feel claustrophobic, she was satisfied to see many of the kitchen staff moving in her general direction.
Knowing that she was close, she hurried along before stopping as she reached a fork in the hallway. Frowning, she glanced down either passageway, utterly lost as to which way she should go, but then heard the sound of yelling and gunfire from a door to her left. She burst through the doorway, only to see a dozen guards collapse to the white tiled ground in spectacular fashion, along with a large array of kitchen appliances.
Staring in confusion at her surroundings, her eyes finally rested on where Charles, Logan, Sera and Erik stood in front of what appeared to be an elevator as the silver haired Peter sped toward her.
"Did you see that?" He asked excitedly and she nodded distractedly, not taking her eyes off of Erik as he finally spotted her.
He stood motionlessly for a moment before starting to stride toward her, slowly at first, before he sped up and took her into his arms. His wet mouth met hers, kissing her deeply as she gripped his soaking white clothes, not sure if she wanted to push him away or pull him in. She wasn't given the choice, because he was suddenly yanked away with Logan's arm wrapped tightly around his throat as Erik clutched at him, choking from the pressure.
"If you hadn't noticed, we're in the middle of getting you out of here, you jackass. Now come on." Logan growled before dragging Erik out into the hallway with Sera following happily behind them, much to Laurien's bemusement. She was breathing heavily, her chest heaving mightily as she raised a hand to her mouth, wondering if it had really been ten years since she'd last tasted him. As a flash of pain hit her, she glanced over to Charles in alarm, who promptly avoided her gaze, but she didn't need to have her powers to know what he was feeling at that moment.
He soon followed after the others, leaving Laurien alone with Peter in the doorway to the kitchen, her head pulsating agonizingly as she ran a hand through her hair.
"You all right?" Peter asked kindly, adjusting the Pentagon security hat on his head as he looked at her with concerned eyes.
"Honestly." Laurien sighed, rubbing her forehead. "I don't know yet."
Ah, right in the feels… Speaking of feels, did anyone watch the most recent episode of Game Of Thrones? That shit destroyed me. Anyways, not much else is new, but I'm absolutely in love with this song by the Lumineers, called My Eyes. I play it on repeat. Also a song by Zaz, called Eblouie Par La Nuit, I love it. Anywho, thank you very much everyone, hope you all enjoyed, and please review!