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▎ BEAUTIFUL CRIME ▎
»»-----　act two. another lifetime
CHAPTER SIXTEEN ━━  prison break

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♯ ❝THEY ARE...ERH OLD FRIENDS! ❞ 
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     THE CAR RIDE TO THE OUTSKIRTS OF DC WERE UNCOMFORTABLE TO SAY THE LEAST, THANKS TO THE FACT THAT CHARLES AND MAGGIE HADN'T SPOKEN IN A DECADE, and many unspoken words remained hanging in the air. Even Logan, a man that had always seemed uncrackable, especially emotionally, seemed fazed by their tense silence. And it wasn't until they reached a familiar driveway, did the chestnut haired woman speak. "Just, let me do the talking alight? Pete doesn't know you and neither does Maria."

    Logan just scoffed, clearly no thinking it would matter much as he pulled the car door open and stepped outside to stride to the front door. Maggie scrambled to follow after the burly man—knowing with utmost certainty Marie would assume the worst when she would see strangers knocking on her door.

    "Logan." Maggie hissed after the man who had already been knocking loudly on the door. "Logan dammit I said to let me do the talking."

    The door swung open before she could even push herself to the front, and a very frazzled Maria Maximoff opened the door. Her eyes scanned the three unfamiliar man in front of her, not seeing Maggie standing behind Logan. "What has he done now? I'll just write you a check for whatever he took."

     "Maria." Maggie finally pushed herself to the front of the group, an easy going smile displayed on her face that immediately eased Maria's nerves. Shoulder slouching, Maria smiled in return. "Maggie."

     "Still getting himself into trouble it seems." The mutant woman spoke sympathetically to the single mother.

    "That's the one thing you couldn't teach him." Maria laughed, stepping back and opening the door further to let them inside her home. "Why are you here?"

    "We need to talk to Peter." Maggie explained as she easily manoeuvred through the house, and spotting a familiar little girl dressed in a fluffy pink tutu sitting in front of the television.

    "Miss Maggie!" Young Wanda jumped to her feet, the fake glittery fairy wings on her back flailing around as she hugged her. "Are you here for Petey?" She asked, big brown doe eyes staring up at her curiously.

    "I am sweetheart. We need your brother's help for something." She nodded, ruffling the girls unruly brown hair, unaware of the stares she received from her companions.

    "Oh is he going to be a superhero!" Wanda jumped excitedly up and down, clapping her hands together.

    Now, Maggie couldn't exactly say she was recruiting Peter to break into the Pentagon to free one of America's most notorious criminals to a little girl—so she opted for a much simpler answer as she leaned down to whisper in the girl's ear. "A secret superhero mission. You have to promise not to tell anyone."

     "Not even Mr Cuddles?" Wanda whisper back, even though she probably still talked way too loud to not be heard by the others.

     "Not even Mr cuddles." Maggie confirmed, eyes flicker towards said Mr. Cuddles—a raggedy and worn down purple teddy bear that laid face down on the leather couch.

     "I promise." She made a motion to lock her lips, and throwing away an invisible key.

    "Atta girl." Maggie stood back up to her full height and faced the three man, "Now let's get down to business, he's probably already figured out who you guys are."

     "Wait what?" Hank frowned as Maggie brushed passed him and opened op a door in the hallway that led to basement—music sounding loudly from downstairs.

     "Ms. H, good to see you!" Peter greeted her excitedly, ignoring the other three man that followed after her as he remained focused on his ping-pong match against himself. "I didn't do anything—I have been here all day!"

     Maggie's eyes trailed to the wall behind the boy, where dozen of boxes of fancy kitchen appliances and twinkies were stacked on top of each other to the stack of televison with the tags still attached. "I see you have been behaving yourself nicely Pete?"

    "What do you want?" Peter instead focused his attention to the other men in the room as he slowed down and let himself fall down on the ouch.

     "We're not cops." Logan clarified, unsure on how to approach the boy he had known in the future—one that was less sarcastic and young.

     "Of course not." He waved absentmindedly at them, "If you were, you wouldn't be driving a rental car. Plus Maggie would not be here now would she?"

     "How do you know we got a rental car?" Charles stuttered out in surprise, and Maggie grinned.

     "I checked your registration when you were walking to the door. I also had some time to kill so I went through your rental agreement. Saw you were from out of town." Peter elaborated easily, "Are they FBI?" He directed his attention to Maggie, but before she could say anything he already sped up, swiping Charles' wallet and checking its contents. "What's this gifted youngsters place?" He questioned holding a small crinkled business card in his hand.

    Charles whipped around, "That's an old card." He declared quickly before snatching his belonging from the table.

    "He's fascinating." Hank grinned from ear to ear as he observed Peter rush around the room, and Maggie proudly smiled at the boy—quite impressed how he remained so calm with these strangers. She remember when he was a scared little kid, afraid to show his powers in fear of what others would think of him.

     "He is a pain in the ass." Charles countered.

     "Hey watch it Charles." Maggie scolded.

    "Teleporter?" Hank wonder, his inquiry directed at the only two people who actually knew him.

    "No, he's just fast." Logan cleared up. "And when I knew him he wasn't soo.." He searched for the right word,"—young."

     "Young? You're just old." Peter stated sarcastically before looking at Maggie who stood behind the men with her arms crossed over her chest disapprovingly. "Come on Pete, watch your manners."

    "Where did you find these guys Ms H?" Peter wondered.

     "They are erh—old friends." She replied after a beat of silence.

     "So you are not afraid to show your powers?" Hank cut in, stepping forward.

     "Powers?" What powers? What are you talking about?" The silver haired speedster jested, an all too familiar teasing smirk displayed on his face. "Do you see something strange here? Nothing anybody would believe if you told them."

     "Peter." Maggie sighed, which caught the boys attention—Maggie never addressed him by his full name, unless he was in trouble, which sadly happened quite a lot in the first few months he spend at her house.

    "Alright." He caved in, speeding off to the Pac Man arcade game standing against the wall. "What do you want?"

    "We need your help Peter." Logan took the initiative to explain their plan, stepping forward to approach the silver haired boy.

     "With what?"

     "To break into a highly secured facility and get someone out."

     "Prison break? That's illegal you know." Peter retorted.

     "You want to talk about illegal?" Maggie intercepted with a raised eyebrow.

     "Only if you get caught." Logan added to his earlier words, hoping to get through to the kid.

     "So what is in it for me?" Peter queried, eyes never leaving his game.

     "You" Maggie stepped up next to the boy, placing a hand on his shoulder, knowing her next words would easily sway the boy. "You kleptomaniac, get to break into the Pentagon."

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      "BUILD IN 1943, THE PENTAGON IS THE WORLD'S LARGEST OFFICE BUILDING, HOUSING MORE THAN 25.000 MILITARY EMPLOYEES STRECHED OVER SIX MILLION SQUARE FEET." THE TOUR LADY TOLD THEIR LARGE GROUP OF tourists in an enthusiastic voice as she led them down the hallway, clearly not even looking back to see if everyone was still with her as Logan, Charles and Maggie—who adjusted her blue baseball cap that shielded her face from the cameras broke off from the group and quickly descended down a set of stairs.

     The group of three hurried down the hallway, avoiding personnel that wandered around until they reached the lower levels of the building where the kitchen was located, as well as their rendezvous point. Maggie nervously wringed her hand together after she tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear out of habit when they reached the kitchen, the fire alarm already blaring loudly and the sprinklers going off.

     "Ladies and gentleman, boys and girls, this is a Code Red situation." Charles called out as he entered the room, directed all the staff outside. "We are evacuating the entire floor, so that my associates and I can secure the, uh, prison."

     "Who are you?" Two guards approached the trio, clearly questioning their authority.

     "We are special operations, CB, FB-CID." At this point Charles was just spitting out random letters, and it seemed the guards caught on their con job. "Perhaps you didn't hear me when I first spoke, but it is imperative that you understand we are in a complete lockdown situation. We have to get you to the third floor. "

     "Oh for goodness sake." Maggie growled out, calling the water that was falling down upon them to her arms and in one swift motion she swiped it at the guards like a whip, knocking both men unconscious.

     "Maggie." Charles drawled out in disappointment of her violent actions.

     "What?" She raised an eyebrow, "Your word vomit was getting us nowhere anytime soon."

     "She got a point." Logan shrugged, stepping over one of the guards before spotting one pushing himself back up, but the man easily kicked him in the back of the head, sending the man back down on the ground in a state of unconscious slumber.

     Charles just sighed and crouched down to retrieve one of the keys from the guard to open the lock on the elevator Peter and Erik were supposedly getting out on.

    "You know better than anyone Maggie, I'm just not very good with violence." Charles stated, but as soon as the words had left him mouth, the elevator dinged, and an all too familiar man stepped outside dressed in faded grey clothes.

     "Charles?" Erik breathed out in surprise.

     Charles face contorted into one of pure anger as he reeled his fist back before surging forward and punching Erik straight in the face.

     The metal bender stumbled backwards from the sheer force as he fell to his knees. He immediately cradled his bruised jaw, eyes flickering up to meet Charles. "Good to see you too, old friend." He paused, before mockingly gesturing towards his legs. "And walking."

    "No thanks to you." Charles spat, furious glare still etched on his face and Maggie finally decided to face the man she hadn't seen for almost ten years now.

     "Maggie?" Erik frowned, almost like he couldn't quite believe she was standing in front of him.

     She smiled sadly at the man—the man she had such high hopes for, the one she had once seen herself fall for. But that felt like a lifetime ago. All she could feel was numbness at the sight of him now. She had buried everything from her past to escape her demons. She wasn't going to bring them back again. She vowed to never do that again. She was just here to save the future as Logan had pointed out.

     "Erik." She nodded, holding her hand out.

    He almost hesitated before slowly clasping his hand in hers and she hauled him back up to his feet, her warmth leaving his skin just as quick as it came.

     She took a small step back, coming back to stand next to Logan. "Long time no see." She breathed out.

     "You guys were the last people in the world I expected to see today." Erik stated, eyes flickering from Charles to Maggie.

      "Believe me." Charles said fiercely, "I wouldn't be here if I didn't have to."

     Erik's gaze almost immediately turned to Maggie, waiting to see if she would voice any similar words to Charles but she just averted her gaze sideways.

     "If we get you out of here, we do it my way." Charles cut in again. "no killing."

     Erik smiled, motioning to his own head, hoping to relieve some of the tension. "No helmet. Couldn't disobey you even if I wanted."

     "I'm never—" he came closer to the man he once consider a dear friend. "—getting inside of that head again. I need your word, Erik."

     There was a tense silence and Maggie felt the urge to tuck on her hair again, but luckily Erik finally nodded in confirmation, but before any of them could do anything, the door busted open and multiply guards spilled inside with their plastic guns raised.

     "Nobody move!"

     "Hold it right there!"

    Maggie's eyes widened as she whirled around to face the guards, whom were slowly surrounding them.

     "Charles." Erik pressed.

     "Don't move!" A guard shouted loudly, "Hands up or I will shoot you."

     "Freeze em' Charles." Erik urged once more, still oblivious to Charles' lack of power.

     Maggie hands twitched at her side, she could already feel droplets of water crawl across her skin and she slowly raised her hands.

     "I can't." Charles shook his head.

     Erik eyed him from the corner of his eye, already making a decision to ignore Charles only wish. No killing.

     The metal kitchen cabinets started to shake, followed by all kinds of kitchen supplies that flew up in a blink of an eye.

     "No!" Charles roared, pushing a hand against Erik's chest to push him back.

    In one quick movement, Maggie raised her hand upwards, a wall of water rising up to cover them before she bawled her first with a loud grunt turning the liquid into thick ice that would hopefully protect them from the incoming bullets.

     But surprisingly it seemed her protection wasn't needed after all when all the bullets magically whizzed passed them, while the guards had been immobilised by some unseen force. Immediately her gaze flicker towards Peter standing proudly in the middle of the room wearing a Pentagon cap.

    "Nice work kiddo." Maggie praised him, as she manoeuvred around all the unconscious guards to wrap her arms around the silver haired boy.

     He grinned at her praise and Maggie whirled around, leaving one arm slung around the boy's shoulder. "Let's get the hell out of dodge gentleman."

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