"Fuck off."
Charles spat the words as he brushed past, but Logan's hand shot out, fisting the front of Charles' shirt and yanking him close. Charles stumbled, eyes widening as he found himself inches from Logan's face.
"Now you listen to me, you little punk," Logan growled, teeth clenched. "I've come a long damn way, and I've seen a lot of good people die,friends. And if you keep wallowing in self-pity instead of doing something, you're gonna experience the same. You understand?"
Logan shoved him away. Charles staggered back a step, steadied himself, then simply spread his arms with a hollow, careless shrug.
"We all have to die sometime," he said quietly. Then he turned, heading up the stairs without another word.
Logan watched him go, jaw tight. "What the hell happened to him?"
Hank exhaled, shoulders sagging. "A lot. He lost everything he held dear. Erik, Mystique… his legs. When the Vietnam War intensified, most of the students and teachers were drafted. That broke him." Hank hesitated. "To ease his pain,and try to help him ,I developed a serum to treat his spine. It's derived from the formula I use to manage my mutation. It affects his DNA."
"Which means no powers," Nathan said, finally speaking up.
"Yes," Hank confirmed.
"So how do we do this?" Nathan asked.
"What do you mean we?" Logan shot back.
"I mean us," Nathan said firmly. "You and I know what's going to happen if we screw this up. And if you fail,those Sentinels will come for me too. I'm not going back to an experiment table again."
Hank blinked, confused. "What do you mean… experiment table?"
Nathan's jaw tightened. "It means I've been through a lot of shit."
"Mind your language," Hank muttered .
"Sorry," Nathan sighed. "I just got worked up."
"So what about you, Hank? Are you going to help us?" Nathan asked.
"I'm sorry, but I can't leave Charles alone," Hank said. "It seems like you're on your own on this… but I can try to convince him."
"Don't bother, Hank. I'll help."
The three turned to see Charles standing halfway down the stairs, one hand lightly gripping the railing.
"What changed your mind?" Logan asked.
"Don't get the wrong idea," Charles said sharply. "I'm not doing this for you. I'm doing it for Raven. Not your 'future' bullshit."
"I guess that works too," Nathan muttered.
"You have quite the mouth on you," Hank said with a sigh.
"What can I say? I like abusing privileges," Nathan shrugged.
Charles descended another step, expression tightening. "You said you also wanted to include Erik in this. But you don't know what kind of man he is. He's a monster."
"We don't have a choice," Logan said. "With the absence of your powers, it's just me and Hank no offense there, but we can't count too much on you two."
"I strongly take offense to that," Nathan said, "but I'll let it slide for now."
Charles ignored him. "Will you be able to convince him to help us?" he asked Logan.
"I think I'll manage," Logan said. "After all, I was sent here by both of you."
"Well… that's going to be hard to do," Hank said grimly.
"And why's that?" Logan asked.
"Because Erik is being held in the most secure place on Earth," Hank said. "For killing JFK."
"He did what?" Logan asked, eyes widening in disbelief.
"How else do you explain a bullet curving midair while Erik is in the vicinity?" Charles asked, deadpan.
"So how do we get him?" Nathan asked.
Of course he already knew how,from the movie,but pretending to be clueless kept him from having to explain too much.
"I don't think we have the resources to break him out," Hank said. "Like you said, it's just you and Logan with powers that can be useful."
"Hello? I'm literally right here," Nathan said as several pebbles lifted from the ground and began orbiting around him.
"You can lift pebbles," Logan said flatly. "You already told us."
"It's not just rocks," Nathan corrected. "It's also sand, dirt anything mineral-based, really. And right now I can manipulate up to about two hundred and fifty kilos."
Logan raised a brow. "Can you deflect bullets? Because the second we break in there, they're gonna start shooting. And the last thing I need is a kid dying on us."
"I think we should let him come," Hank said. "We're going to need all the help we can get."
Hank turned to Nathan, eyes serious. "You do understand what you're getting yourself into… right?"
"Yes," Nathan said without hesitation.
Hank nodded.
"Fine," Logan muttered. "But if you get yourself killed, that's on you."
Nathan just smirked.
Logan continued, "I know someone who can help us get in and out before anyone notices. He should be a teenager right now."
Nathan blinked. Right. Here comes the Quicksilver part.
"Well, Cerebro is out of the question," Hank said, glancing at Charles.
Charles avoided his eyes, jaw tightening.
"But we do have a phonebook," Hank added.
Before anyone could respond, Nathan's stomach growled loudly.
"I'm hungry. Do you have anything to eat?" he asked.
-------
"So… is this your car?" Hank asked as they stepped outside the mansion.
"Kind of," Nathan replied.
"He stole it," Logan said.
"You did the same too," Nathan shot back without missing a beat.
Logan shrugged. "Difference is, I'm good at it."
"Well, we'll take my car," Charles said firmly. "Can't afford getting stopped by the cops."
He walked to the side of the garage, gripped the handle, and lifted the door open. The hinges creaked, the metal scraping before rolling up completely.
A white Toyota sat inside,clean and classic.
Nathan blinked. "Huh. Not what I expected."
"It runs," Charles said flatly. "That's all you need."
Logan eyed it skeptically. "You sure this thing can make it more than ten miles?"
"Yes I trust it,it may be old but it sure is gold" Charles said
"You're sitting in the back," Charles said immediately.
Nathan sighed. "This is discrimination."
"It absolutely is," Logan said, pushing him toward the rear seat.
As Nathan climbed in, muttering under his breath, Hank slid into the front beside Charles, Logan shutting the door behind him as he took the remaining seat.
The engine sputtered… choked… then roared to life.
Charles adjusted the mirror. "Alright. Let's go find this guy of yours"
End of Chapter