Hellooooooo everyone! I think it's just commonplace that my chapters take forever to come out, at least I can be consistent in that respect. This is the longest chapter I have written to date, and it sure as hell feels like it. So I hope you are all well, and here's Chapter 42! Enjoy responsibly!
Laurien's gaze snapped up to see that one of the sentinels in the sky had lifted its arm and was firing its machine gun rounds at a nearby police car. One end of the cruiser exploded in a large ball of flame, flipping the entire car forward and onto its roof. Screams pierced through the air as the crowd dispersed into a frantic mess of clambering bodies, all trying to get as far away from the sentinels as possible.
As a slight tremor ran through her body, Laurien glanced back down and noticed that the man who Raven was impersonating had begun to move toward where the other secret servicemen were evacuating the President and Trask. Laurien quickly latched onto the back of Raven's suit collar with her powers and dragged her back until she managed to get a firm grasp on Raven's arm with her hand.
"Raven," Laurien gritted out, hoping that she could be heard over the chaos surrounding them. "You can't go through with this, it's only to going to make things worse."
The man looked at her with such confusion and fear in his blue eyes that Laurien was suddenly afraid that she'd grabbed the wrong person, but then a familiar flash of yellow in his irises confirmed Raven's identity.
"Let me go, Laurien." She hissed through clenched teeth as she tried to pull herself out of Laurien's grasp. "Trust me, the world will be a better place if men like Trask aren't in it."
Laurien held on tight, trying her best to stand her ground as people bumped into her in their effort to escape. "Look, I understand what you mean, but this is not the way to go about it." She reasoned, wincing as a palpable anger radiated from Raven's body, giving Laurien the impression that she was standing too close to a raging bonfire.
Raven then turned on her, gripping Laurien's shoulders hard as she shook her slightly. "He killed them, Laurien. He killed Angel, Azazel, and Sean. That bastard doesn't deserve to live another day."
"What?" Laurien's eyes went wide as her breath was effectively pushed from her lungs, wondering if she'd heard her properly over the noise. "How do you know that?" She demanded, her heart beating hard against her ribcage at the mention of their former teammates.
"I saw the pictures in his files." Raven snarled, her expression becoming thoroughly menacing on the stranger's face. "He gutted our friends for his own personal gain, and you want to spare him?"
Laurien opened her mouth, but found that her words were impeded by the sudden lump in her throat. Sean was dead. After all the years of not knowing, they now finally had their answer. Heat bubbled up in her chest at the realization of how much Trask had taken from them, only for it to be cooled with the reminder of the sorrow and fear that had earlier filled Logan when he had laid eyes upon the sentinels.
She stared into Raven's eyes, shaking her head. "Please. There's a better way."
Raven met her gaze, the hard look on her face dissolving into one of remorse before she suddenly ripped her arm from Laurien's slackened grasp and elbowed her in the side of the face, hitting her squarely in the cheekbone. Momentarily stunned, Laurien took a step back, only to trip on an overturned chair, and was sent crashing to the ground.
A sharp intake of breath passed between her lips as her lower back landed heavily on the chair, causing her body to arch awkwardly. She groaned as she rolled onto her side, cursing herself just as much as she cursed Raven before glancing up towards her mark, only to find that she was gone.
"Shit." Laurien spat, tasting the slight tang of blood in her mouth as she guessed that she'd accidentally bit the inside of her cheek. Laurien struggled to get to her feet, clutching at her aching back as she scanned the scene before her. People were still struggling to escape from the site, tumbling over chairs and pushing one another, and all the while, the sentinels had risen higher in the sky. She squinted up at them, wondering as to what had happened? Had they malfunctioned or had that display of gunfire been an example of their capacities? If it had been the latter, the government had just made a major blunder in their marketing scheme.
Laurien grimaced as a screaming voice somehow rose above the chorus of cries from the crowd, ringing in her ears and invading her head. She clasped her hands over her ears, wincing as it reached shrill proportions, though it did nothing to dampen the sound. Only then did she recognize Charles' pained voice.
"Erik!"
Ice water surged through her veins as the realization overtook her and she bolted into the throng of bodies. Laurien hadn't made it too far before another car to her right was hit with a sudden barrage of gunfire, causing it to explode. She took cover, lifting her arm to shield her face as an intense heat emanated from the wreckage, but was spared from being touched by the flame. She scrambled to her feet and lurched away from the fire, grabbing onto a nearby chair to right herself before continuing on.
The only thing that was coherent through the torrent of thoughts racing through her mind as she weaved through the crowds, was that she should never have left Erik on his own in Paris. She shouldn't have complied to his refusal of going back to the hotel. She should have done something, knocked him out and made him walk like a marionette down the dark lit streets the entire way back to the hotel.
As she searched for any familiar face, a shadow fell upon their sunny surroundings. The crowd soon thinned out enough for Laurien to take the risk and to look up and search for what had caused it. Her heart stopped as she witnessed what appeared to be a gigantic stadium floating perhaps only a hundred meters above them, with a single man suspended in the middle of it.
Panic had long since become a constant presence in her mind, though it eased a little when she laid eyes upon one of her companions. Logan seemed similarly relieved when he spotted her in turn, grabbing onto her hand tightly once she'd run over, as if he were afraid to lose her again.
"Is Hank with Charles?" She asked breathlessly as he guided her back through the remaining stragglers and heavy falling debris, knowing that the stadium was descending ever lower and would trap them inside its perimeter if they didn't hurry.
"No, Charles sent us both out to find you." Logan stated quickly.
Laurien stopped dead in her tracks, jerking Logan back by the connection of their hands, promptly missing a plummeting slab of concrete that buried itself deep into the ground where they would have been had they continued. "And you obeyed him?" She exclaimed, in more of an accusation than a question.
Logan faltered, the muscles in his jaw twitching. "He was– very convincing."
Laurien sighed, knowing from experience the lengths of Charles' stubbornness. The piercing sound of gunshots caused her to flinch at they met her ears, giving her a second's warning before she noticed the trail of disturbances in the lawn making its way toward them. She called out to warn Logan, who then suddenly wrapped his arms tightly around her from behind, and turned her bodily away from the source of the shots.
The gunfire mowed over them. Laurien gasped as she felt Logan's body react with every bullet that met his skin, his grip on her tightening with each painful impact. The gunfire faded away and with a low growl from the man holding her, they both straightened back up.
Logan spun her around, his hands gripping her arms tightly. "You alright?" He asked firmly as his eyes frantically checked her for any wounds. "Did any of them get you?"
Laurien shook her head, simply staring at the man in shock and awe. "W– What about you?" She asked incredulously.
Logan grimaced in response, releasing her to flex out his shoulders with a groan before shaking out his leather jacket. A few small items fell to the ground, and upon closer look, she recognized them to be bloody bullets.
"Come on." He urged, again grabbing her hand and pulling her along as they resumed making their way across the lawn. A moment later, they finally saw Charles rolling towards them with difficulty, the muscles in his arms straining as he traversed over the lawn in his wheelchair.
Just then, the sound of groaning metal alerted them to the horrific sight of a large piece of scaffolding detaching itself from the stadium and hurtling down right over where Charles was currently. Logan yelled his name, prompting Charles to look up and see the falling metal. He threw himself from his chair in a last ditch attempt, only for the metal to freeze in place only a few feet above him.
Laurien had her arms outstretched, feeling the vibrations of her pulse echo through the metal in her power's grasp. She carefully guided it away from where Charles was lying on the ground, his wide bloodshot eyes flitting between her and the scaffolding. In a moment of sudden rage, she snapped the scaffolding into individual pieces before sending it soaring towards one of the sentinels. The rods buried themselves deep into its eyes and chest, causing the sentinel to plummet to the ground, just as the stadium planted itself into the ground with an ear-shattering boom, sealing them in.
Laurien rushed over to Charles and grabbed his face in between her hands as her eyes searched his body for any injuries. "Are you alright?" She asked, her heart feeling like it was trying to burst from her chest.
He clutched her wrists comfortingly as he nodded, eyes shut in relief. "I believe I'm alright." He assured her before turning his head to press his lips against her palm. "Thank you."
Laurien found that she could only nod in response, not quite realizing that he couldn't see it. She let go of him and looked around, taking in the new monstrous barriers that cut them off from the rest of the world. At the top of the stadium, the sentinels stood ominously along the rim, staring down at them with their luminous yellow eyes before turning outward to ward off any outside rescue.
She was brought back to earth by the arrival of Hank, his orange suit sprinkled in dust and soot. "What did I miss?" He asked nonchalantly before letting out a strained cough.
"What happened to you?" Logan grunted as he none-too carefully gathered Charles into his arms and deposited him back into his chair.
Hank waved him off as another fit of coughing overtook him, his eyes watering from the strain on his lungs. Laurien rummaged in her bag and found her water bottle before handing it to Hank, almost dropping it in the process as her hands shook violently.
"This is Erik, isn't it?" Hank asked after the water suppressed his cough for the time being. "He's taken control of the sentinels."
"But how can he have?" Laurien demanded, shaking her head in confusion. "I've seen the blueprints for these things. There isn't even an inch of metal on them for him to control."
"He must have incorporated it into them himself." Charles reasoned, shifting in his seat uncomfortably. "Managing to divert them from their primary objective of detecting mutants."
"Brilliant." Hank muttered disgruntledly as he wiped off the dust from his glasses with the bottom of his shirt.
Charles then grabbed Laurien's wrist, his desperation seeping into her skin. "Did you make contact with Raven?"
She shook her head. "I tried, but she didn't seem to interested in hearing what I had to say."
"Where is she now?"
"Last I saw her, she was making her way to the White House."
"Us trying to get in would be too risky." Hank added.
"What about Magneto?" Logan asked as he looked off into the distance, distracted by something.
"Somehow I don't think Erik's too concerned about getting into the White House." Laurien murmured almost to herself as she followed Logan's gaze and watched Erik lower himself to the ground, his cape settling around his solid form. She turned to the others. "Do we know who he's targeting? The President, or Trask?"
Hank shrugged, adjusting his leather jacket. "Both, most likely."
"Well, whatever it is," Charles reasoned, "We need to get him out of here and minimize the damage."
"I think it's too late for that." Logan grunted humorlessly, causing uneasy lump to settle in Laurien's throat as the implications of his words rose with their own consequences.
Her fears were interrupted with the sound of Charles maneuvering his wheelchair away from them and through the obstacles of debris. Laurien frowned. "Where do you think you're going?"
"Getting out of the bloody way." Charles yelled over his shoulder, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"Are you going to be alright on your own?" Hank called after him, only to receive an irritable "Go!" in response.
"Well," Logan murmured, raising an eyebrow at the others as they mentally and physically prepared themselves. "I guess we're doing this then."
They set off, navigating their way through the obstacles to the outskirts of the clearing in the middle of which Erik was standing with his arm outstretched to the White House. They stopped behind a mass of concrete and rubble, taking advantage of its enormous size to give them cover as they gathered their bearings.
Laurien's body ached all over as she took a quick glance over the top of the mound, carefully observing the clearing. It was littered with abandoned chairs, metal scaffolding and concrete. Erik stood in the middle walkway between the clusters of seats, wearing a sort of armour of which Laurien had never seen before. It was all one colour this time, and for that Laurien was thankful. Consistently maroon, not the frighteningly cartoonish contrast of red and purple that he had previously sported. What he thought he was doing, Laurien hadn't a single clue. Her eyes shifted warily to where behind him stood a solitary sentinel, almost four times his height.
"I'm probably not supposed to ask this kind of thing," Hank suddenly started, drawing back Laurien's attention. "But in the future, do I make it?"
"No." Logan replied bluntly, earning himself an exasperated look from Hank, but then the other man continued, quickly glancing at Laurien. "But we can change that, right?"
She nodded half-heartedly as Hank whipped off his glasses, growling with heaving breaths as blue hair sprouted from his body, transforming him into the Beast. He bared his teeth at Erik as they drew the metal-bender's attention.
With a glance from Erik, the sentinel turned and raised its arm, sending a barrage of machine gun fire in their direction. Laurien ducked down, pressing her back against a slab of concrete as Logan and Hank jumped back down from the mound to avoid the bullets. The sound of gun fire was then replaced with that of a small jet engine as the sentinel flew up into the air and over Laurien's head.
It landed in a crouch on the ground before Logan before straightening up and taking a swipe at the man with its massive fist. Logan skillfully evaded the blow and advanced upon the sentinel just as it started to fire at him once more. Claws fully extended, he jammed them into the rotating gears of the gun, eliciting a cry of mixed anger and pain from the man as it shifted and pulled at his bones. Logan managed to dislodge himself and drew back, but not before the sentinel's heavy leg kicked out and sent him soaring into a pile of rubble.
Laurien jumped from the mound and made to advance forward to help Logan when something landed in front of her. She looked up to find another sentinel towering over her, blocking the sun from her view and becoming a dark monster with two glowing jewels for eyes. It raised its arm and for the quickest of moments, she found herself staring down the barrel of a gun once more.
A terrible heat washed over her as crimson flashes invaded her mind and the sentinel was suddenly jerked back as her powers took control. Its entire form shuddered violently before its arm flew out to the side, littering a nearby patch of disturbed earth with bullets before the material contorted and groaned, prompting the arm to detach and fall with an almost comical thump. Like a disease, the affliction quickly spread across its body to its other extremities. The sentinel wavered dangerously as one of its legs departed the rest of his body at the hip and sparks flew from its sockets as the yellow eyes sunk back into its head. Having endured enough abuse as its purple breastplate caved in and exposed the mechanical organs within, the sentinel eventually folded in on itself and crumpled to the ground, a shell of its former grandeur.
Laurien let out a shuddering breath as she released her hold on the dead creation, her wide eyes staring unseeingly at the corpse. Air did not come easy as her chest and throat constricted tightly, causing her breaths to come in shallow, desperate gasps. The sound of further gunfire prompted her to screw her eyes shut as she crouched down, her pulse pounding in her ears like an inconsistent drumbeat.
A strange hum met her ears, prompting Laurien to look up with pained eyes for the source of the noise. She climbed up to the top of the pile of rubble again and noticed that the staircases leading to the balcony of the White House had tilted forward and that the benches in front of it began to inch themselves forward. The shattering of the windows gave only a split second warning before the front of the White House exploded, sending marble debris raining down upon the lawns as an enormous metal crate burst from the carnage. It flew above the stage and was propelled a few more meters before crashing to the ground before Erik.
The metal bender raised his hand and ripped the door of the crate off its hinges, before thinking better of it and tearing the entire front wall off. Laurien's stomach flipped when the light of day revealed a large group of people, the crate serving as a sort of panic room. Some of the secret servicemen within reached for their fallen guns when they saw who greeted them, though they were swiftly swept away by an invisible force. The guns rose into the air above Erik's form, their barrels pointed intently at the men in the crate.
A slight smirk appeared across Erik's lips as he raised his hands and turned them. At his behest, the abandoned news cameras illuminated, pointing in the direction of Erik and the men in the crate. Eyes widening in horror, Laurien raised a hand to her mouth as she put two and two together. She couldn't even fathom as to how many people would be watching.
"You built these weapons to destroy us." Erik declared, gesturing to the remaining sentinels. "Why? Because you are afraid of our gifts. Because we are different. Humanity has always feared that which is different."
He paused, raising his chin and gritting his teeth in a snarl. "Well, I'm here to tell you, to tell the world, you're right to fear us. We are the future. We are the ones who will inherit this earth, and anyone who stands in our way will suffer the same fate as these men you see before you."
Laurien grimaced and looked over just in time to see the first sentinel reach up to where Hank was latched onto its back, grab him, and toss him aside as if he weighed nothing. Hank's body crashed through the rear window of a nearby police car and disappeared within.
"Today was meant to be a display of your power. Instead, I give you a glimpse of the devastation my race can unleash upon yours. Let this be a warning to the world."
The sentinel advanced toward the police car and reached down with its still functioning hand, but before it could touch the roof of the car, Laurien let out a pained cry as she sent a metal rod through the side of its head. It sputtered and died, collapsing backwards with a bang, just as another sentinel touched down on the ground and began to charge at her. In a split second of panic, she raised her fists and held it frozen within her grasp at a distance, her hands shaking with the effort to suppress the immense power behind it.
Erik's voice continued to echo throughout the clearing. "And to my mutant brothers and sisters out there, I say this; no more hiding, no more suffering. You have lived in the shadows in shame and fear for too long. Come out, join me. Fight together in the brotherhood of our kind."
The sound of broken glass scraping against metal alerted Laurien to Hank's presence as he emerged from the car, now in his human form. "Hank." She called, sweat accumulating on her brow as she felt herself draining rapidly from the strain. "Can you quickly dispatch this one for me?"
Hank's face fell as he opened his palm to reveal three syringes to her, all of which were empty. Laurien felt her mouth go dry at she looked at them, realizing what he had done. "It's okay." She assured him before glancing back to where Erik was. "Go find Charles, see if he's alright."
"A new tomorrow, that starts today." Erik declared as he finished his spiel, and movement from within the bowels of the crate seemed to be creating a commotion. Multiple voices cried out as a solitary figure made his way through the crowd of frightened men, with several of them trying to grab him.
The President of the United States emerged from the safety of the crate. "Stand down!" He ordered to his men, though as he advanced, the secret servicemen continued to fuss over him. "I said stand down!" He repeated.
Nixon stopped only a few metres from where Erik stood with his barrage of guns. "You want to make a statement? Kill me? Fine! But spare everyone else!" He declared with a ferocity that Laurien had never heard come from the man's mouth before, a ferocity that didn't seem likely for a man like him to possess in this sort of situation.
Erik smirked. "Very heroic, Mr. President. But you have no intention of sparing any of us. The future of our species begins now."
Laurien's eyes widened as she heard the collective clicking of the guns' hammers being pulled back. Desperate thoughts raced through her mind as she knew that there was a possibility that she may not gain control of them all in time. For even one bullet to escape her grasp meant they'd failed to uphold the hope that had been entrusted to them by the mutants yet to come and therefore signalled their inevitable destruction. And that was most certainly not acceptable.
"Erik!" Laurien called as a severely reckless idea came to mind, effectively jarring Erik's attention and causing his smirk to vanish. He turned to stare at her, watching as her own knowing grin crept onto her face. She suddenly opened her hands and released her hold on the sentinel that then continued its charge towards her.
It all dawned on him in a split second as a desperate cry was ripped from Erik's lips. She could see the approaching sentinel in the corner of her eye as she gritted her teeth, her instincts screaming at her as she forced herself to stay still. Erik raised a hand and clenched it, causing the sentinel to lose limb after limb on its way, before it crashed into the ground only feet from Laurien's frozen form.
A gunshot immediately rang out after the sentinel stilled, striking an intense fear into Laurien's very core as the sound echoed around the mess of a stadium, a fear that one of Erik's guns had gone off after all. She glanced over at Erik, only to find him clutching at the side of his neck and fall to his knees, gasping like a fish out of water. He stared at the figure that had formerly been Richard Nixon, now revealing themselves to be Raven as she slowly lowered a gun. She then limped toward the man on his knees before executing a perfect roundhouse kick to the head, effectively knocking Erik to the ground and rendering him unconscious.
Raven stood still for a moment before suddenly turning to face the men in the crate as she raised the gun once more. Laurien reached out with her powers and took control of the firearm, though at the same time, someone grabbed her hand, jarring her attention. She glanced to the side in alarm, only to see that Charles and Hank had joined her, the former giving her a slight shake of his head.
"Raven, please, do not make us the enemy today." He uttered, his other hand raised to his temple as his connection extended to his sister. Raven's voice could be heard faintly from where she stood, though Laurien could not quite make it out clearly.
"Not all of us." He replied as if talking to himself. "All you've done so far is save the lives of these men. You can show them a better path."
"Shut her down, Charles." Hank told him, though Charles again shook his head.
"I've been trying to control you ever since the day we met, and look what that's got us." He admitted, his eyes fluttering to meet Laurien's for a moment as he squeezed her hand. "Everything that happens now is in your hands. I have faith in you, Raven."
Charles' hand fell from his temple and Laurien turned back to the scene before them, her heart beating so fast that her chest hurt as she waited for Raven to move. She hoped that the girl that she had once known, who she had talked to for hours at a time in their youth about films, celebrities, and their plans for the future, would make the right choice. A moment later, Raven let the gun slip through her fingers to fall to the ground.
Tentative relief flowed from the men in the crate as Raven turned on her heel and walked toward Erik's prone body. "He's all yours, Charles." Raven growled, leaning down and ripping the helmet from Erik's head.
With his hand once again to his temple, Charles took control. In the clearing, Erik stood up, his movements so strange and unlike him that Laurien could tell at what point Erik regained control. The man turned to glance around him at the carnage that he had willfully caused, before his gaze lifted to his former teammates, a stream of blood flowing sluggishly from his neck. "If you let them have me, I'm as good as dead. You know that." He stated.
Charles lifted his chin, his voice strong and steady as he addressed the man. "I know."
Erik gave him a small nod. "Goodbye, old friend."
"Goodbye, Erik."
Erik's eyes met Laurien's for a split second, and from the shift in his emotions that met her from afar, she could tell that she would see him again, before he lifted his hands and levitated into the air.
"You sure you should let them go?" Hank wondered, his eyes following Raven before she disappeared from their line of sight.
"Yes, I have hope for them." Charles murmured with a strange smile, prompting Laurien to frown in turn. "There's going to be a time, Hank, when we are all together."
Hank looked rather nonplussed. "What about Logan?" He asked, drawing attention to their missing member.
As his words sparked fear in her heart, Laurien glanced around at their surroundings, her eyes searching for the mysterious man of the future. She had admittedly lost track of him after he'd been sent flying by a particularly vicious kick from the first sentinel. She hoped that he was still around, she wanted to have the opportunity to thank him for saving her earlier. He couldn't be far, though wherever he was, she wondered if he could tell whether they'd done any good.
So we are just nearly finished the DOFP story line, I suppose. I am open to suggestions from you all for Apocalypse. In X Men: Dark Phoenix news, I heard that Magneto's costume looks rather god-like or something, and that it hints that he may be taking on a mighty cult leader role. From a movie watching and Fanfic writing stance, I am not a fan of this, can't he just be good this movie? I can't keep coming up with reasons that Laurien shouldn't just dump his ass for good.
In other news, school is out and summer is not offering a lot of amusement just yet, with the exception of Canada Day. That was oodles of fun. I saw Wonder Woman finally, but we were a bit late for the screening and we were forced to sit in the front row, so it was like watching a 3D movie without the 3D glasses. Everyones' hands were so much bigger in proportion to the rest of their body, it was hilarious, but I'll probably have to see it again for the full effect.
Anyone a Hamilton fan? It's so good!
Anywho, that was Chapter 42! Hope you enjoyed, love you all, and please review or comment below!